MORE than 4,000 cases have been reported across the country over 24 hours, a foreboding benchmark that was last surpassed when Pakistan hit its first peak in summer last year.
The national positivity ratio has crossed 10pc — that means that one out of every 10 Covid-19 tests are positive. In some cities, the positivity rate is reportedly even higher. While the first wave saw an alarming number of cases in Sindh, this time the virus is spreading fast throughout Punjab. According to the NCOC, the cities where the highest number of ‘oxygen beds’ are occupied are Gujrat, Gujranwala, Peshawar and Islamabad. In Multan and Lahore, the percentage of ventilators being used by Covid-19 patients is also climbing.
Social media is once again seeing an increased number of accounts reporting people being critically ill. The situation is looking grimmer than before and appears to be the result of widespread public violations of SOPs and an overall devil-may-care attitude towards the pandemic.
It is disappointing that despite the success of the NCOC in flattening the curve in the past, the situation today appears to be spiralling out of control. The body must play to its strengths and effectively implement restrictions before the healthcare infrastructure in Punjab collapses. Covid-19 does not appear to be registering as a serious and lethal threat to members of the public.
What is also disappointing is that the prime minister himself flouted internationally advised SOPs, when, despite being infected with the virus, he invited members of his media team for a meeting in a closed room at his residence. It is even more bizarre that the information minister felt it was prudent to share a photo of this meeting on social media, a decision that elicited shock and justified criticism levelled at the top members of the government. If the holder of the highest office in the country is not in strict quarantine despite being infected, the message being sent to members of the public is that Covid-19 is not to be taken seriously.
This is unacceptable. The virus has wreaked havoc globally, and while Pakistan has been fortunate to have had to grapple with fewer cases than many countries in the West, it also has a much weaker healthcare infrastructure than these countries. Though the vaccine programme has raised hope, it will have to be matched with the right messaging about Covid-19 prevention. Even with a successful vaccination programme, prevention and SOPs are essential.
‘Urban Sindh’ province
ONCE again, on the occasion of its 37th foundation day in Karachi, the MQM-P has called for the creation of an ‘urban Sindh’ province. This demand has been raised many times before, in apparent response to the perceived injustices the dwellers of urban Sindh have faced, with Muttahida leaders blasting the PPP-led provincial government for its ‘biased’ attitude towards Sindh’s cities at Thursday’s rally in Nishtar Park. While the Constitution allows for the creation of new administrative units, the process has to be channelled through the right forum — the respective provincial assemblies. Any attempt to carve out new provinces by bypassing the provincial legislature will create more problems and add to the ethnic divide. Moreover, as the PPP enjoys a comfortable majority in the Sindh Assembly, the move is a non-starter. Also, urban Sindh is a euphemism for the province’s Urdu speakers, and the MQM’s attempts to repeatedly use this card to revive its political fortunes will only fuel ethnic tension and give the more extreme Sindhi nationalist factions an opportunity to promote their narrow brand of politics.
There can be little doubt that where facilities and infrastructure are concerned, Sindh’s cities lie in ruins, and the PPP is squarely to blame for introducing a failed local government system that is designed to be micromanaged by the provincial government. But it is also true that the province’s rural areas are faring even worse. One way to address such issues, as we have indicated in our first editorial today, is to put in place empowered LGs that deal with local problems effectively. Elected district, city and local body heads can address problems better than ministers and bureaucrats sitting in Karachi, inaccessible to the people. The Muttahida’s other grievances, such as the quota system, must also be discussed at the national level to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. Sindh has suffered from decades of ethnic strife, and all political stakeholders must promote communal harmony instead of indulging in the politics of division.
Restoring LGs
THE Supreme Court of Pakistan made the right decision in ordering the restoration of local government institutions in Punjab and declaring their dissolution more than 22 months ago as unconstitutional. Opposition politicians might celebrate the ruling as a setback for the PTI government. But it is not a victory for them either. In fact, to some others, attempts to end or weaken local administrations may not be as important as cases where federal or provincial governments were overthrown via presidential putsch or gubernatorial action. But the decision is an important win for the people, whose mandate is frequently invalidated through the premature dissolution of LGs. It will go a long way in consolidating democracy in the country in general and deepening local democracy in particular. It isn’t without reason that the attorney general of Pakistan equated a section of the Punjab Local Government Act, 2019, which empowered the provincial administration to dissolve LGs elected under the 2013 law, with the infamous, erstwhile Article 58(2)(b) of the Constitution that gave the president the authority to arbitrarily send elected governments home. Future governments will now think long and hard before daring to remove elected local body institutions on a whim. Though the court will record the reasons for its decision later on, the order closes the door on dissolution of LGs through administrative actions — even if this is provided in the law — as unconstitutional.
Autonomous LGs are considered the building blocks of a functional democracy the world over. No governance, financial and administrative reform can be successfully implemented in the absence of a strong, powerful and steady LG system. Sadly, our political parties and leaders have never felt comfortable with grassroots democracy because they do not want to share powers with locally elected representatives of the people in spite of the crucial role of LGs in service delivery. Hence, we repeatedly find them introducing new LG systems to suit their political interests and wind up existing ones on coming to power.
The present government is no exception. What it did in Punjab, and the tactics it has employed to delay local elections since May 2019 when a new law was introduced only reflects the prevailing mindset across political parties. If the PTI government is serious about consolidating local democracy as it claims, it is time it started working on strengthening the weak constitutional cover given under Articles 32 and 140-A to LG institutions to ensure their continuity, and financial and administrative empowerment by building on the court’s decision. The effort requires strong buy-in from the opposition parties as well as the provinces. Without meaningful constitutional cover, the provinces and the political parties ruling them will continue to find ways of keeping LG institutions powerless and weak, and roll back local democracy whenever it does not suit their interests.
