THE very fact that coronavirus has been classified as a global pandemic should have raised the alarm bell for Prime Minister Imran Khan to put politics aside, take all provinces and opposition parties on board and adopt a unified strategy to fight this invisible but deadly menace.

Instead, what we have been forced to witness in the midst of this pandemic is a score of federal ministers and spokespersons undermining and belittling provincial governments and their efforts to control the spread of the virus.

While I applaud the federal government’s decision to impose a national lockdown, more needs to be done and with much greater clarity. The lockdown itself has been made ineffective by the contradictory messages emanating from Islamabad.

The consequences of this flip-flopping are becoming alarmingly clear: the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has increased rapidly in the last few days to more than 9,000 and fatalities will inevitably follow.

Public health is a serious business, one that we have never been very good at, and this pandemic will test the limits of our health system’s ability to put together a coherent response.

Equally importantly, it will test our ability to come together as one nation. I ask the government on behalf of all Pakistanis to begin working with the opposition, which has ample experience in administration, including overcoming epidemics like the dengue outbreak of 2011.

Even in the current Covid-19 outbreak, the Sindh government has by far been the most proactive and can share its valuable experience with the prime minister. Sadly, the walkout of the leader of the opposition Shahbaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari from the all parties conference on coronavirus, only underscored the fact that consensus-building is not among the PTI government’s strong suits.

It was also upsetting to see members of his cabinet, including Sheikh Rasheed, Faisal Vawda and Firdaus Ashiq Awan, resorting to petty politics and attempting to point fingers during a national crisis. In the midst of this lethal pandemic, their behaviour is only counter-productive.

Does the poor Pakistani labourer, who works day and night to feed his large family — somebody Imran Khan’s party claims to represent — not deserve to be protected from this virus? This labourer can only save his family if the prime minister decides to do what is right.

This would mean taking the appropriate steps to ensure that his life is not put at risk in the name of reviving the economy, at a time when we have no vaccine or cure to offer him.

The right solution to this complex challenge can only come if not one, but a number of great minds sit together and evolve a strategy in the best interest of the country.

I ask the government not to let its collective ego get the best of it. Despite the prime minister’s contempt for members of the opposition, this is not the appropriate time to continue to display the government’s contempt for them. It is time to be the captain of all of Pakistan, and lead us to victory through unity.

Sinan Khalid Waheed
Lahore

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2020