People of PoK left for God’s mercy by Pakistan
Shabir Hussain, Srinagar
As Pakistan has lifted its lockdown on May 09 , in the whole country, citing the economic crisis that it could not sustain more to tackle the situation . From past one month, there has been a surge in Coronavirus cases in the country and over twenty-eight hundred lives have been claimed by the deadly virus .
To get appreciation and applause from the other countries, Pakistan concealed its real face as they were struggling to combat the situation as India did. The leadership of Pakistan was struggling to survive as it was criticized for its wrong policies during the lockdown .
A week before, World Health Organization has taken the unusual step of urging Pakistan to return to lockdown, suggesting the country implement restrictions but who cares.
“Pakistanis stricken by the coronavirus are being turned away from hospitals that have simply closed their gates and put up signs reading “full house.” Doctors and nurses are falling ill at alarming rates, and are also coming under physical assault from desperate and angry families,” notes the report by WHO.
On 15 June, Pakistan’s Minister for Planning Asad Umar , who is in-charge of the national response to the coronavirus pandemic, stated that current tally could double by the end of this month to reach 3,00,000 cases.
“We’re in mid-June and our cases have reached approximately 150,000. It saddens me to say that based on our current trajectory, experts have projected that our cases could double by the end of June,” he said .
Umar said that “with the current trajectory, the novel coronavirus could reach 10 lakh to 12 lakh by the end of July.”
In Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, (PoK), the situation is even more terrible as the deadly virus is now infecting Pakistani Army , which is already struggling to perform their duties . There seems no cooperation among the Army and government. It seems they are governed by the King and there is no democracy at all.
In May 2020, dozens of soldiers were detected positive for the Covid19 infection and at the same time were compelled to perform their duties , which is unethical and wrong as per the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines .
As per the figures revealed by top officials at PoK reveals that there are around 209 confirmed positive cases in the Army and 02 persons have died due to the deadly infection .
Among the 209 cases, over 108 are active cases, while 99 have recovered also. While eight new Covid19 cases are been reported, it is a fact that the Pakistani army is struggling due to a lack of proper infrastructure.
Even a Brigadier rank officer who had got responsibility from ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) for infiltration of terrorists have been tested positive for the Coronavirus. While a Lieutenant Colonel rank officer who was considered to be the right hand of a top army official has also got infected.
Many staff officers of the Brigadier are under quarantine and but are struggling to manage things. There are also similar inputs from Lipa area in PoK, which is acting as a launch pad for the terrorists ; two officers including an Army doctor were tested positive few a week ago.
Although the Pakistani government is not revealing information to mainstream media but hiding information cannot make them superpower as there seems no end to more positive cases inside the country’s top leadership .
If the exact figures would be revealed, it can expose the deteriorated condition of the Pakistani Army, which is crumbling for its existence. The country is also facing medical crisis while as rest of Asian countries including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are doing better to contain the spread of Covid19.
Pakistan is also facing criticism from rest of the world for lifting lockdown early . Currently, they are going from the biggest turmoil in health care. Even they had not enough funds to buy equipment for their health workers .
In Muzaffarabad’s Army Command Hospital (CMH), where dozens of Army doctors refused to treat civil COVID infected patients while civil doctors are been forced to perform their duties .
“They should learn from India, where the Army is working like Coronavirus warriors. They have opened their hearts and doors for the people and are getting good response from the people.”
Indian Army has kept their Several Army Wellness Centres established to handle likely surge in civilian cases of COVID-19.
There are some examples where the Indian Army had dedicated its COVID hospitals for civilians at Barrackpore, Shillong and Likabali . Even at some places, volunteers from the Indian Army donated blood to assist Civil Blood Banks to maintain blood stock levels.
Amid Covid19, multi-pronged campaign to reach out to people in remote and rural areas of J&K and to assist at this crucial juncture.
Apart from these things continuous efforts being undertaken by Chinar Corps , making announcements to ensure social distancing & distributing health advisories.
Coming to PoK, there are reports of many Army men getting deserted after they were segregated in isolation wards for Coronavirus infection.
“Even 32, soldiers of the Pakistani Army, who were admitted in one of biggest Army hospital in the PoK for treatment, decamped bulbs and torches from isolation ward along with other equipment, which is the biggest tragedy for a country, which is already struggling for its existence.”
The official Twitter handle of the CMH Muzaffarabad wrote that “32 soldiers of AJK regiment infected with Corona who were admitted in isolation ward have gone missing. 7 bulbs, 12 LED torch, and package of morphine are missing. We have informed about this to local army HQ,(sic), it said .
Due to the lack of doctors in the hospitals in several areas of PoK, few civilians also attacked a Police Chowki and created ruckus there, which exposed the poor health structure in the country.
At some places in Pakistan and particularly in PoK, doctors at the hospitals complained of receiving personal protective equipment (PPEs) kits which were already used, which they said was injustice with the community that are considered as a front line warriors.
According to official twitter handle of CMH hospital, “Hospital across AJK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) has received around 3 lakh PPE kits from a military hospital, Rawalpindi but the kits we got in our hospital were already used before. Some of the masks had a red stain on them, after lab testing it was found those were paan stain, (sic) ,” it tweeted.
These tweets from biggest hospitals have exposed the leadership in Pakistan; they should learn something from their neighboring countries.
The twitter thread was followed by another tweet, “As per our hospital protocol, we destroyed all kits to ensure no infection gets spread in our hospital. It’s shameful that after receiving fake Made-in-China testing machine, AJK has now become a dumping ground for used PPE kits ,” (sic), it said.
Let’s be clear about the fact that the hospital was constructed for the poor people of PoK, who are already struggling from the past 70 years under the illegal occupation of the country. The hospital was specially constructed by the donation by President of United Arab Emirates (UAE), Shiekh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan after 2005 devastating earthquake .
As per the hospital staff , the security guards of some political party have misbehaved with the hospital’s female staff and tried to attack other doctors also.
In another tweet by the CMH hospital stated that they running out of resources.
“We are running out of funds for sufficient PPE kits, ventilators, and medicines. Hence, our Kashmiri patients have decided to donate their kidneys voluntarily so that the lives of other people could be saved ,” they tweeted.
Even, the authorities at the helm of affairs should be shamed as they had sent same used PPE’s kits to the United States of America (USA) which were to be sent to hospitals across POK and Gilgit. The news was also reported by the largest daily of the country.
With poor testing and untrained medical
staff, Coronavirus cases in PoK have been in a surge, while Gilgit Baltistan is also witnessed a high number of cases each day.
The WHO has also recommended Pakistani authorities reimpose ”intermittent lockdowns” of targeted areas to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, stating the country did not meet the global body’s conditions for lifting restrictions. But Pakistan rejected the idea to re-impose the lockdown in the country.
Pakistan’s COVID-19 cases reached over 148,919 after 4,443 new infections were detected, while 111 more people have succumbed to the coronavirus , pushing the death toll to 2,839, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of National Health Services, 25,015 tests were done in the last 24 hours taking the total number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the country to 922,665.
Out of the total 148,919 infections, Punjab has reported 55,878 cases, Sindh 55,581, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 18,472, Islamabad 8,857, Balochistan 8,327, Gilgit-Baltistan 1,143 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 663.
When there is no planning whom can people blame as the country was the first in south Asia which lifted its restrictions on May 09, citing economic losses.
As per the its health ministry, Out of the total 148,919 infections, Punjab has reported 55,878 cases, Sindh 55,581, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 18,472, Islamabad 8,857, Balochistan 8,327, Gilgit-Baltistan 1,143 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 663.
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed Pakistan as its policies during the lockdown were also criticized globally. The country also failed to lift its stranded people from the rest of the world. If Pakistan wants to go beyond the limits, it should stop exploiting the people in PoK, who are used as fodder to get aid from the foreign countries.
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