Karachi be declared calamity-hit if situation is that bad, says PML-N leader

Protesting the Sindh government’s move to impose a lockdown in Karachi, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Karachi chapter on Saturday said political pirates, traders and civil society groups were opposed to shutting down the businesses.

PML-N Karachi Secretary General Nasiruddin Mehmood said the provincial government’s move of imposing the lockdown would create more problems for the small traders and poor working class of the city.

“For stopping the spread of coronavirus in the city, it is necessary to immediately stop the flow of population from all over the country towards Karachi,” he said.

Mehmood said if the government really considered the situation in Karachi that bad, it should declare Karachi a calamity-hit, waive all taxes and provide the residents limited units of electricity and gas free of charge.

He also demanded that the Karachi residents be exempted from fees of all educational institutions and the government should pay that amount.

The PML-N leader said the government had made it compulsory for the people to get themselves vaccinated but there was a huge crowd at the vaccination centres due to their limited numbers, which was also causing spread of Covid-19.

“Both the policy of the government and the direction of its implementation are not right due to which the people are suffering,” he said. Mehmood remarked that poverty, inflation, and unemployment had made the lives of the people miserable. He demanded of the government to adopt a coordinated policy to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus in order to save the people from economic hardship.