Govt trying to blame PPP, PML-N for spread of virus: Khawaja Asif
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif on Thursday said the government was trying to blame the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) for the spread of the coronavirus.
“If the country’s situation improves by arresting us, then tell us at which police station should we go to get ourselves arrested,” Khawaja Asif said while speaking at the National Assembly session in Islamabad.
He claimed that a minister, off the record, said that deaths would occur in Pakistan like leaves fall from trees during autumn. God forbid, if deaths occured like leaves fall from trees in autumn season, he added.
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The PML-N MNA lashed out at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for repudiated the measures taken by the Sindh chief minister to contain outbreak of the pandemic.
“On Mar 17, PM said coronavirus was a common flu. You did not release exact figures of pilgrims coming from Taftan border. Floodgates of coronavirus were opened when we needed to shut them down. Currently, more than 3 million people are suspected to be affected of coronavirus in Punjab,” he said.
He said PM Imran said the country could not bear complete lockdown. He had said that coronavirus will come and go by itself, he maintained. While, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had termed ease in lockdown a mistake, he said.
Khawaja Asif said almost all the frontliners of PML-N were affected of coronavirus. Several parliamentarians of different parties were also affected of the viral disease, he said.
Taking a dig at the incumbent government, he said the PTI government was a rudderless ship and there was no sign of government’s success in sight.
On privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills, the PML-N leader said the PSM was privatized during former dictator Pervez Musharraf’s era, which was abolished by the Supreme Court. He said they had no objection to privatization, however it should be done when the market got stable.
