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Friday March 29, 2024

Authorities and people making a mockery of Covid safety measures

By Oonib Azam
May 07, 2021

Tea shops, restaurants and other eateries switch off their lights as soon as the distant wail of sirens intrude on the revelry of their customers. And then, everyone waits silently and with bated breath until the police van has gone past them. Once the coast is clear, the lights are switched on again and the revelry continues all though the night until Sehri.

Somewhere else, the police stop by a tea shop, yell at the shop owner, pick up and throw down some chairs and tables, and grab a few of the waiters by the collar and load them up in their van. A couple of blocks away, all of them are released. And so, business continues.

These two scenes are played out on an almost daily basis in the name of enforcing the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighbourhood of Karachi’s District East.

Being Sindh’s worst-hit district, the cases of the coronavirus infection here seem to reach new heights every week, but the authorities and the people appear to be making a mockery of the SOPs.

Hotels, tea shops, ice-cream parlours, and juice and soda shops in every nook and cranny of the district not only remain open until Fajr but hundreds of young men and even entire families can also be seen enjoying outdoor dining.

On Monday the Sindh chief minister had said that in the past seven days infections had hit new heights in the East district, where the positivity rate had reached 22 per cent, followed by 19 per cent in Hyderabad, 13 per cent in Karachi’s District South and 10 per cent in the city’s District Central. He directed the authorities of the affected districts to take strict measures to contain the spread of the virus in their respective jurisdictions.

In District Central several micro-smart lockdowns had been ordered. When this correspondent inquired about District East, however, it was learnt that no micro-smart lockdown had been ordered by the district administration until the filing of this story.

On April 23 the National Command & Operation Centre had announced that markets throughout the country would close by 6pm, and only shops selling essential goods would be allowed to remain open till late. Indoor and outdoor dining had also been banned during Ramazan.

According to a new notification of the Sindh Home Department, all kinds of indoor and outdoor gatherings, including social, cultural, political, sports, musical and religious activities, have been completely banned. Cinemas, shrines and amusement parks will also stay closed, while indoor and outdoor wedding functions have also been banned.

When this correspondent visited different areas of District East, blatant SOP violations were witnessed. Not only were several tea shops, restaurants and other eateries as well as gyms conducting their business but outdoor dining was also taking place openly.

The Bahadurabad area seemed to have gone into a festive mood late in the night. Scores of families were seen enjoying the carousel, merry-go-round, and horse and train rides — none of whom had bothered to wear a mask.

One of the swing operators told The News that every year in Ramazan they bring swings from Punjab. When asked about the SOPs, he replied that like everyone else operating late into the night, they were also conducting their business.

Night matches were being played at the Kokan Family Park and the Little Master Hanif Muhammad Cricket Ground near Bahadurabad. All tea shops, ice-cream parlours and fast-food restaurants were open, with outdoor dining taking place on either side of the traffic signal at Tariq Road’s Liberty Chowk without any fear.

Parathas were being fried in a huge cauldron, and French fries, omelette and hot tea were being served to the diners. The rush was to the extent that hardly a motorbike could pass through the street.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Dhoraji, Mehmoodabad and Garden East areas. In Gulistan-e-Jauhar, however, the SOPs seemed to be different than in the rest of the city.

“The SOP is to switch off all the lights of the hotel when you hear a police siren,” said Khalil, a waiter at one of the tea shops near the Darul Sehat Hospital. As soon as the police mobile passes by, he said, they switch on the lights and resume their business. “That is the SOP we follow here.”

The owner of a tea shop near Pehlwan Goth shared how sometimes after midnight the police come, pick and choose a few of his employees to detain, and throw the chairs and tables to create a chaotic situation.

“Just at a little distance the police release all of them,” he said smilingly, adding that every action of the authorities is staged. “They do it to make it look like the police are enforcing the SOPs. They collect weekly cash from us, so how can they seal our shops?”

Iftikhar Arain, the Sharea Faisal station house officer under whose jurisdiction this has allegedly been taking place, could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.

News regarding the enforcement of the SOPs and the sealing off of various restaurants are received on a daily basis from other districts of the city except District East, where the rate of infections is the highest in the province. District East Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali Shah did not respond to any of this correspondent’s phone calls.

District East Additional Deputy Commissioner-I Sajida Kazi, however, claimed that the administration has been taking action against SOP violations, and made the assurance that the details will also be released to the media. She also claimed that the infection cases in the district are so scattered that it is not easy for them to order micro-smart lockdowns.

District Health Officer Dr Ashfaq also explained how the cases in the East district are extremely sporadic, saying that they order micro-smart lockdowns in the areas where there are clusters of cases.

However, he said, the recommendation to order micro-smart lockdowns in Faisal Cantonment, and near Pehlwan Goth and Gulistan-e-Jauhar has been sent to the District East deputy commissioner’s office, claiming that lockdowns will be ordered in these areas by Friday (today).