When elephants fight

The second wave of Covid-19 has created a wave of fear among the people. But, unfortunately, our government and opposition seem to be least bothered by it and are busy in getting maximum political gain out of this situation. The government, on one hand, is asking the PDM to postpone all its political gatherings. On the other hand, it allowed the TLP to hold Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s funeral in the heart of Lahore. Also, it held election rallies in Gilgit-Baltistan and paid no attention to SOPs. What is even more worrying is the fact that the people are not considering the situation to be serious. They even don’t believe in the statements made by government doctors as these doctors were also accused by the PM and PTI ministers of issuing wrong certificates of low platelets for Nawaz Sharif. The prime minister has categorically said that he will not go for a complete lockdown, but it’s an open secret that the smart lockdown and micro lockdown is not working as no one is following SOPs.

It seems that the strategy of the government and the opposition is to maintain their vote bank. Ever since the country got hit by the virus, the PTI posed itself as a great sympathizer of daily wagers and didn’t take strict measures to contain the spread of the virus. On the other hand, the opposition is trying everything it could to dislodge the PTI-led government. Both believe that the people will soon forget about the lives that the deadly virus claimed. There is a proverb that goes: “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”. In the end, it is the common man who suffers.

Malik ul Quddoos

Karachi