Regional
Sindh to solo fly if NCOC doesn't heed suggestion on transport ban, says Murad Ali Shah
Karachi: The Sindh government has decided to take action by itself if National Command and Control Center (NCOC) failed to deliberate on its suggestion to close inter-provincial transport to curb rising COVID-19 cases.
The Sindh Chief Minister said that the first wave of Corona was not as dangerous as the third— current one. “To control the spread, we had closed all the transports,”
The Prime Minister has his opinion on the lockdown however a meeting of the task force on COVID has also been convened tomorrow (Friday).
"But if it was that bad an idea, why did the federal government and other three provinces follow it later?
"The decisions we made, in the beginning, helped us stay safe from the coronavirus pandemic."
The Sindh chief minister underlined that the PPP-led the provincial government had recommended shutting down intercity transport for at least two weeks — which, according to him, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said the NCOC would consider.
Shah said PM Imran Khan "spoke time and again about how India imposed a curfew and shut down everything and how it was wrong but India had not imposed a curfew".
"The Indian [government's] mistake was that it did tell people to return to their homes but hundreds of thousands of people took trains, buses, and public transport to return to their villages and they interacted there and went on to infect their villages.
"We remained safe because we said we need to shut down trains and air travel and now, too, I have given the same recommendation which at the moment hasn't been rejected but the NCOC said it would consider it. However, if NCOC doesn't take these steps, we'll take them ourselves," he stressed.
Murad Ali Shah further said that the vaccination campaign should be intensified, he wants to know how many vaccines are needed, Sindh also has to vaccinate the law enforcement personnel.