Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday that if COVID-19 cases continue to rise, “we will be compelled to into complete lockdown and PDM will be responsible for the consequences.”
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of opposition parties, is holding a rally in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) stronghold of Peshawar.
“The PDM by continuing with jalsas is deliberately endangering lives and livelihoods,” the Prime Minister said in a tweet. “Opposition is callously destroying peoples’ lives and livelihoods in the desperation to get an NRO.”
He said he will not give opposition an NRO; a term used for giving concessions to the opposition.
As coronavirus cases continue to rise in Pakistan, politics around measures to protect people has also come to the forefront. The opposition alliance is criticising the government for imposing restrictions on public gatherings. PDM leaders claim that the government has taken these measures to curb opposition’s voice.
Prime Minister on Saturday hits back on opposition. He said in a tweet that “The same PDM members who had wanted a strict lockdown and criticised me earlier now playing reckless politics with people’s safety”.
The two major parties Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League early this year had criticized PTI government for not imposing strict lockdown during the early days of pandemic. They had blamed the government for rising cases of COVID-19 in Pakistan. However, PDM is now calling the government’s efforts an attempt to stop PDM rallies.
Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) report stated that another 2665 people tested positive on November 21. According to NCOC data, 59 people lost their lives due to coronavirus. Total active cases are now 36,683 on November 22. Punjab has the highest number of COVID-19 patients, followed by Sindh, Federal Capital Islamabad and KPK.
Karachi’s administration has imposed a smart lockdown in the selected areas of the city. Commissioner Karachi, Iftikhar Shalwani in a meeting approved smart and micro lockdown
In the last 24 hours, Pakistan has recorded 42 deaths as the number of positive cases has surged to 34,974. The nationwide tally of fatalities has reached 7603.
