PM Imran Khan defends decision not to clamp complete lockdown, curfew

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Defending the decision not to clamp complete lockdown and curfew, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the country faces more threat from wrong decisions made in confusion than coronavirus. Talking to senior journalists on Tuesday, he said that the education system has been divided into different sections. “Lockdown is the last stage of curfew. The poor section of the society is worried by the curfew. God forbid if we are forced to impose the curfew, we will have to prepare for it. The curfew cannot be successful if we cannot provide food in the poor localities,” he maintained. He said that he was responsible for all decisions and no decision is made without his consent. The prime minister said that the lockdown had started after a meeting of the National Security Council. “We hold meetings daily to review the situation about coronavirus. The entire Pakistan is fighting against coronavirus,” he added. “It is not a T20 match. It may continue for six months. The time will tell whether the step taken by us will be right or wrong.” Announcing the Rs21 billion package for the poor, the prime minister announced an Rs15 per litre decrease in the prices of petrol and diesel. “An amount of Rs200 billion has been allocated for the poor section. We will also talk to industrialists for the people losing jobs due to the crisis. Rs100 billion has been reserved for the agriculture sector. We will give a refund of Rs100 billion to the export sector,” he declared. Imran Khan said that the people consuming up to 300 units will be able to pay their bills in three installments. “A sum of Rs280 billion has been allocated for purchasing wheat. Rs25 billion has been allocated for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). A package of Rs1.5 billion has been reserved for the poor families and each family will get Rs3,000 per month,” he said. He said that the government is also preparing a package for the media workers and directed Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan. Imran Khan said that the federal government is continuously in contact with the Balochistan chief minister. “The Taftan border is located in a deserted place. We shifted the testing laboratory to the place with the help of Pak Army. It was very difficult to control coronavirus in the desolate place,” he maintained.