ISLAMABAD: Stating that the coronavirus cases are under-reported in the country, the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has challenged the official figures and data and claimed that the number of Covid-19 patients has crossed the six-digit mark in the country.

Speaking at a news conference with other party leaders on Thursday, PML-N’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Khawaja Asif pointed out that the health secretary of Balochistan had stated that there were hundreds of thousands of suspected coronavirus cases in the province already. The PML-N leader said a similar situation might hold in other provinces too and the number could go to tens of millions, he warned.

Mr Asif alleged the government was leading the country into “irreversible disaster through lies, confusion and blunders”.

He said the government had failed completely to handle Covid-19 outbreak and was instead busy looting the people amid a pandemic through its ministers, office holders and cronies.

He alleged that after making billions of rupees in sugar, wheat and medicine, a special assistant of the prime minister was busy selling Roosevelt Hotel in the US, one of the most valuable assets of PIA. He said the nation was being fed lies every day through botched and reduced numbers.

Government accused of leading Pakistan into ‘irreversible disaster’

PML-N vice president and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the government could not share its strategy to fight the pandemic because the government does not have any strategy. He said the PTI leaders said the government had an evolving strategy which was another name for a strategy based on kneejerk reactions.

Mr Abbasi said there wwer so much data and precedents across the world to analyse, predict, plan and implement a strategy on various phases of Covid-19. But, he said, this government demonised the lockdowns one day, announced the lockdown the same day, did nothing to implement the lockdown, lifted the lockdown and then announced imposing it back the very next day.

“This is not an evolving strategy. This is absolute confusion, cluelessness, inability, incapacity and total mayhem. The federal government is easing lockdown while the provinces are tightening it,” he added.

He said the prime minister, the health minister, interior minister and finance minister all were missing from the parliamentary session, which showed the commitment of these people and their government to democratic institutions.

He said these individuals were scared of the opposition and the PTI wanted to use the session only as a platform to abuse and cuss at the opposition’s constructive criticism. They should constitute a committee instead that would meet everyday instead of holding a session, he suggested.

PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal said the opposition wanted to ask the government in the session of parliament if it had decided to impose a lockdown, if yes, where was the cabinet-approved document.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2020