Pak PM Imran Khan Meets Aides Despite Testing Covid Positive

Islamabad:

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has come below extreme criticism from each the opposition and the general public for holding an in-person assembly together with his media group regardless of being contaminated with COVID-19, based on a media report as we speak.

Imran Khan, 68, examined constructive for the coronavirus final Saturday, simply a few days after receiving a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine. Hi spouse Bushra Bibi additionally examined constructive for COVID-19 the identical day.

Imran Khan acquired the primary shot of the Chinese-produced Sinopharm vaccine, the one COVID-19 vaccine accessible in Pakistan, on Thursday as a part of the nationwide anti-coronavirus vaccination marketing campaign which is underway in its first part.

The criticism of Pakistan’s Prime Minister started quickly after an image of the assembly was posted on social media by Information and Broadcasting minister Shibli Faraz and one other lawmaker Faisal Javed, who attended the assembly.

The image confirmed Imran Khan, clad in a gray tracksuit and joggers, sitting in a room on a settee at far from his media group comprising Mr Faraz, Mr Javed, Yousuf Baig Mirza and Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari.

According to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, Imran Khan presided over the assembly at his Banigala residence on Thursday.

The opposition stated Pakistan’s Prime Minister himself violated normal working procedures regardless of the third wave of the dreaded illness and referred to as for registration of an FIR towards all these individuals who attended the assembly for violating the usual working procedures (SOPs).

Interestingly, not one of the authorities’s spokesmen may defend Imran Khan adequately on his act of chairing a gathering through the quarantine interval and lots of of them prevented to interact media personnel over the difficulty, the report stated.

In messages posted on social media platforms, folks questioned whether or not it was essential for Imran Khan to carry an in-person assembly. They requested why he didn’t chair the assembly by means of one of many many video conferencing purposes accessible.

According to the SOPs formulated by National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) — the primary nationwide physique set as much as management the pandemic — a COVID-19 affected person must be quarantined for 9 to 14 days. However, Imran Khan attended the assembly solely 4 days after testing constructive for the illness.

When contacted, Planning and Development minister and NCOC Chairman Asad Umar stated the SOPs solely instructed precautions and members of the assembly had been sitting at an inexpensive distance from Imran Khan.

He, nonetheless, admitted that it was higher to keep away from such conferences through the quarantine interval.

Yousuf Baig Mirza, who was amongst these current on the assembly, rejected the criticism and stated the assembly was held after taking all precautionary measures as per the SOPs.

We didn’t contact one another and all of us had been sporting masks. We didn’t take something to eat and drink and sat with an inexpensive distance from Imran Khan through the 45-minute assembly, he stated.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Medical Association’s common secretary Dr Qaiser Sajjad stated sufferers affected by COVID-19 shouldn’t meet folks.

Commenting on Imran Khan’s assembly, he stated: There are probabilities of transmission of coronavirus. If it’s essential to carry conferences, Imran Khan ought to use the choice of video conferencing because the virus quickly spreads in closed areas.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s data secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb stated Imran Khan violated the SOPs and gave a message to your complete nation that there was no must observe them.

The heads of states and governments ought to set examples for the general public. But right here Pakistan’s Prime Minister is himself encouraging folks to violate the SOPs, she was quoted as saying by the report.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)