Lockdown to be imposed if corona cases crossed 15pc: Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry Thursday said that so far no decision been taken about lockdown but if ratio of the coronavirus positive cases reaches 15 percent, then there would be no option but to impose lockdown.

Fawad came hard on head of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Maulana Fazlur Rehman for trying to undermine the nation, the army and the national security institutions out of frustration over his political future.

Talking to media persons here along with Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, the minister noted that the Maulana said that Pakistan could not wage a war for a month was like his confusion that Taliban were not far away from the Margalla hills. “We fought them with full force and the nation stood strongly by the army and the security agencies. We proved this nation knows how to defend every inch of the motherland,” he noted.

He called Maulana’s statement as irresponsible and claimed Maulana Fazlur Rehman was disappointed with his political future and in this frustration, he had been targeting national institutions. He made it clear that nobody should underestimate the valiant armed forces and law enforcement agencies, which defended every inch of the motherland and successfully checked the menace of terrorism.

On the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he believed that the visit would prove a milestone in bilateral relations and cooperation in diversified areas, especially economic field would get a further boost.

He said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoyed deep fraternal relations. He recalled that the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman after the PTI came to power helped in improving relations between the two brotherly counties.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said Prime Minister Imran Khan was deeply saddened by the allegations against Jahangir Tareen and the inquiries he was facing, but he (PM) would not change the process of accountability for anyone.

He said that he knew that Jahangir Tareen would face these inquiries and allegations in the same way as any member of the opposition, and conceded that this was not an easy thing to do.

However, he made it clear that the process of the across the board accountability would not be changed by Prime Minister Imran Khan for anyone. The governor said that he had a detailed meeting with the prime minister. He noted that Jahangir Tareen had been one of the closest associates of Imran Khan and his love had been hardly been with anyone else in the party. He said the prime minister had made it very clear to Tareen’s comrades that he could not treat the opposition on the same charge and treat his friend differently. Imran Ismail expressed hope that he was sure that Jahangir Tareen understood this very well.