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Friday March 29, 2024

PPP, PTI call off public meetings due to rise in Covid cases

By Our Correspondent
April 26, 2021

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have decided not to hold any public meeting in the NA-249 constituency of Karachi in connection with the upcoming by-election for the National Assembly seat.

The PPP had earlier announced that it would hold a big public meeting in the constituency on Monday (today). A statement issued on Sunday quoted Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah as saying that the public meeting had been called off on the direction of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Shah said that the party chief had issued the directives to this effect in view of the surge in the cases of Covid-19 in the city as Pakistan fights against the third wave of the deadly viral disease.

The information minister said that the provincial government of the PPP had since the beginning performed a leadership role in the country to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

He claimed that owing to the wise decision of the provincial government, the coronavirus situation in the province was not as adverse as that of the upcountry areas. He said that Sindh was the only province in the country where the provincial government had established a hospital (in Karachi) dedicated to treating the patients of the coronavirus.

He also said that the provincial government would establish more hospitals in other districts of the province to treat the patients of Covid-19 as well as other infectious diseases. The information minister said that the Sindh government had established special wards at every hospital to admit the patients of Covid-19. He said that the Punjab health minister should focus on improving the health facilities in her province instead of criticising the Sindh government.

Shah said that in view of the pandemic, the Sindh government had reserved a major portion of its budget to prevent the coronavirus surge and treat the patients of Covid-19. He mentioned that the provincial government had reserved a sum of Rs1.5 billion for purchasing vaccines against the coronavirus to safeguard the lives of the people in the province. He said that in the first phase the Sindh government would purchase 10 million doses of the anti-coronavirus vaccine.

The information minister said that the provincial government had been acting upon the guidance of the PPP chairman to take practical steps to safeguard the lives of the people in the province against the deadly viral disease.

He claimed that had the federal government acted on the advice of the Sindh government, the situation in the country would have been a lot better. He also claimed that oxygen, ventilators and other necessary medical equipment were available at the hospitals of the province in sufficient quantities to tackle any surge in coronavirus cases. He said that the Sindh government would take more steps to deal with any emergency Covid-19 situation in the province.

‘Concerned’

The PTI has also announced cancelling its rally in NA-249 in view of the rise in Covid-19 cases. The announcement was made by PTI Karachi General Secretary and MPA Saeed Afridi. He said that because of the worsening situation of Covid-19, the party has decided to cancel all large gatherings in the constituency and focus only on door-to-door campaigns. “We are more concerned about the citizens of Karachi than the election.”

He said that they will go door to door and convey the message of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the people of the constituency. He also advised other political and religious parties to take precautions amid the coronavirus situation and avoid large gatherings.