Haleem Adil Sheikh asks Sindh govt to act as per the new directions of NCOC’s guidelines

KARACHI: Haleem Adil Sheikh, the Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly has said that high-ups of the Sindh government were bound to obey the directions of the National Command Operation Centre with regard to the vaccination and the lockdown to avoid the further spread of the deadly virus.

Mr Sheikh, who is also central vice president of PTI, addressing the press conference in Adil House here on Monday said that there was the need to focus on the vaccination of the people and ensure that the SOPs were followed by the people properly instead of making the hard decisions.

He said that there was no need to do politics on such issues pertaining to the health issues of the people adding he lauded Prime Minister Imran and Asad Umar for their brilliant efforts to cope with the emerging situations due to the fresh wave of the cases of Covid-19.

Mr Sheikh said that Syed Murad Ali Shah, who imposed the lockdown without seeking permission from the officials of NCOC just wanted to stop the smooth sailing of the economic activities in a city like Karachi under a conspiracy/. ” Such steps are nothing but an open threat to the flourishing economy of the country” he reiterated.

Mr Sheikh said that the Sindh Chief Minister instead of ensuring the vaccination of the people against the deadly virus was only interested in imposing unnecessary lockdowns.

Mr Sheikh urged on the setting up more vaccination centres in Karachi and other parts of the province so that people could get themselves vaccinated in a proper manner without getting themselves infected by the virus. He said that Syed Murad Ali took the decision of lockdowns like the one which was taken by Indian Prime Minister in occupied Kashmir without knowing the consequences of such decisions on the common people and the economic conditions of the country.

The federal government on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan had provided testing kits, ventilators and then the vaccines but the high-ups of the Sindh government could not ensure the proper vaccination to the people” he added and held PPP rulers in Sindh responsible for the mess and their utter failure to even set up a single vaccination centre where people could be vaccinated in a proper manner in a conducive atmosphere.

Mr Sheikh observed that the lockdown of one week in a city like Karachi would leave ill impacts on the economic activities in the whole country for many months.

He said that the city, which was contributing to 67 percent of the country’s revenue, should not be allowed to be affected by such naive decisions. Mr Sheikh said that the Supreme Court had ruled that the provinces could not take unilateral decisions in this regard, but the Sindh government’s announcement about imposition of a lockdown in the province was against such orders.

The PTI leader said that under Article 151 of the Constitution, Pakistan is a single market with the port of Karachi acting as the jugular vein of its economy”. Any attempt that could affect the country’s economic lifeline should not be allowed adding he said that the Sindh government took the unilateral decisions . He said that the PTI leadership strongly condemned such a decision, which was aimed at stifling economic activities.

Mr Sheikh maintained that the option of imposing a complete lockdown was not available to any provincial government adding he asked the high-ups of Sindh government to act upon the directions of the officials of NCOC in the light of the orders being given to the provincial governments The policy about the Covid pandemic was formulated by the federation and the National Command and Operation Centre and the provinces were bound to implement it, he said. Mr Sheikh said the Imran Khan-led PTI government had fought hard against the virus and had so far managed to save many lives while maintaining a stable economy.

He said that Pakistan under the dynamic leadership of Imran Khan controlled the worst situations during the past peak times of the pandemic and his sincere and concerted efforts were lauded by the heads of other countries. Had the Sindh government implemented the SOPs effectively, the situation in Karachi and other parts of Sindh would not be so grim and worse today. Mr Sheikh said that those living in Bilawal House and in their palatial palaces did not know how the poor people were suffering due to such uncalled for lockdowns.