‘DON’T POLITICISE COVID RESPONSE’: MINISTER HITS OUT AT BILAWAL DEFENDING SINDH LOCKDOWN

Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar on Saturday hit out at PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after the latter defended the Sindh government’s decision of imposing a lockdown in the province to curb the spread of coronavirus.

“Bilawal zardari says if what happened in India happens in Karachi PM [will be] responsible,” the minister tweeted.

“Mr zardari what you wanted.. Lock down lock down lockdown..Was done in India & the world saw the devastation,” he continued. “Crores thrown into poverty from which they have still not recovered. Economy shrank 7%.”

“Remember Mr zardari last year you told me in a meeting that you believed in the Imperial study which had predicted 78 thousand deaths in Pakistan in a single day.

This is obviously a subject that you do not understand very well. Please do not politicize the covid response.”

Asad Umar said the PTI government’s strategy based on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of protecting both lives and livelihoods produced “dramatically superior results”.

India’s economy had the worst year since independence while Pakistan’s economy grew 4%, he pointed out, adding at the same time Indian per capita Covid mortality is three times higher than that of Pakistan.