Corruption and the Emerging Economies

 

Munaza Kazmi

Economies that are afflicted by a high level of corruption which involves the misuse of power in the form of money or authority to achieve certain goals in illegal, dishonest, or unfair ways are not capable of prospering. Corrupted economies are not able to function properly since corruption prevents the natural laws of the economy from functioning freely. As a result, corruption in a nation's political and economic operations causes its entire society to suffer.

The average income of countries with a high level of corruption is about a third of that of countries with a low level of corruption. Also, the infant mortality rate in such countries is about three times higher and the literacy rate is 25% lower. However, no country has been able to completely eliminate corruption, but the level of corruption in countries with emerging market economies is much higher than the developed countries.

In the corrupt economy deals are made, contracts are awarded in the terms of corruption, or economic operations are carried out, leads to monopolies in the economy. These are businesses that can use their connections or money to bribe government officials, resulting in manipulation and market mechanisms that ensure them as a sole provider of goods or services in that market. 

These monopolists do not have to compete against alternative providers, so they tend to keep their prices high and are not compelled to improve the quality of goods or services. Embedded in those high prices are also the illegal costs of the corrupt transactions that were necessary to create such a monopoly. 

Likewise, in best practice, companies choose their suppliers via tender processes which serve as mechanisms to enable the selection of suppliers offering the best combination of price and quality. But in corrupted economies, the companies that otherwise would not be qualified to win the tenders are often awarded projects as a result of unfair or illegal tenders. That results in excessive expenditure in the execution of projects and substandard or failed projects, leading to overall inefficiency in the use of resources.

Furthermore, corrupted economies are characterized by a disproportionately small middle class and significant divergence between the living standards of the upper class and lower class. Since most of the country's capital is aggregated in the hands of oligarchs. In this regard, small businesses are not widely spread and are usually discouraged because they face unfair competition and illegal pressures by large companies. Certain industries are more prone to corruption than others, making small businesses in these sectors even more vulnerable to unethical business practices.

On top of everything, little confidence can be placed in the legal system of corrupted economies in which legal judgments can be rigged, potential innovators cannot be certain their invention will be protected by patents and not copied by those who know they can get away with it by bribing the authorities. There is thus a disincentive for innovation, and as a result, emerging countries are usually the importers of technology because such technology is not created within their own societies. 

Moreover, small businesses in such countries tend to avoid having their businesses officially registered with tax authorities to avoid taxation. As a result, the income generated by many businesses exists outside the official economy, and thus are not subject to state taxation or included in the calculation of the country's GDP.

Another negative of shadow businesses is they usually pay their employees decreased wages, lower than the minimum amount designated by the government. Also, they do not provide acceptable working conditions.

Corruption is one of the disincentives for foreign investment. Since investors will avoid investing in countries where there is a high level of corruption.

Also, it has an adverse impact on the quality of education and healthcare provided in countries with emerging economies. Corruption increases the cost of education in countries where bribery and connections play an important role in the recruitment and promotion of teachers. As a result, the quality of education decreases, and this affects the overall health of the economy.

Similarly, corruption in the designation of healthcare providers and recruitment of personnel, as well as the procurement of medical supplies and equipment, that results in inadequate healthcare treatment and a substandard medical supply, lowering the overall quality of healthcare.

Many countries with emerging economies suffer from a high level of corruption that slows their overall development. As a result, the entire society got infected. So, why not become a sensible and responsible citizen to save the country to save the society, since it is where we all belong to.

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Munaza Kazmi is a student of Master of Philosophy at Bahria University Islamabad. Her debut novel is Unrequited Love. 

She’s an author, columnist writing in different newspapers and a researcher having seven publications till yet, she’s been writing since 2016.

You can connect to Kazmi at twitter @munaza_kazmi or on research gate as munaza kazmi.

Genocide: a tale of Indian Muslims

 

Attiay Munawar

Indian Muslims have been victims of Hindu prejudice since the founding of Pakistan and now their genocide continues. International experts and genocide research organizations have also expressed concern over the genocide of 200 million Muslims under the patronage of the Indian government.

However, Human rights expert Tina Ramirez says persecution of Muslims is worsening their economic situation, with Indian Muslims suffering from constant fear and insecurity. The Indian state’s anti-Muslim sentiments and the worst treatment of Muslims have also been voiced by insiders, Leading Indian writer and political activist Arundhati Roy had also said in her interview that the situation in India is now heading towards genocide, because this has been the agenda of the government.There is a storm of hatred against Muslims in India. The massacre in Delhi was carried out because people were protesting against the anti-Muslim law on citizenship. Crimes against humanity continue unabated in India, the socio-economic life of the Muslims there has been ruined; the situation of the Indian Muslims is a tragedy which is very real, but not new.

It is clear that after independence, the Indian leadership, in order to win the trust of minorities, said in the interests of the moment that India would be a secular state in which people of all faiths would have equal rights, but minorities would always be oppressed by extremists. They faced oppression and discrimination and were forced to accept Hindu supremacy, just as the Muslims of Andalusia have been persecuted and forced to accept one of the three options, convert to Christianity, emigrate or prepare for massacre.Even in present-day India, minorities especially Muslims, are forced to live a life of deprivation- deprived of their rights.

RSS, the main party of Indian Prime Minister Modi, has been saying for years that India should be a Hindu state. The Modi government is pursuing the same old plan of integrating Dalits into Hinduism and making Muslims untouchables in their place, while Muslims have ruled India for a thousand years, but they never interfered in the religious affairs of Hindus, nor could have forcibly converted them to Muslims even if they wanted to, because the teachings of Islam are not like that. In contrast, the situation is different in India, a so-called secular country, where Muslims are being burned and exiled.

This situation has proved that India has always been a Hindu state and Iqbal’s bi-national ideology and Quaid-e-Azam- Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s creation of Pakistan was correct, but it is also a clear fact that the Muslims of India played an important role in the liberation of this country. The Muslims of the subcontinent had united under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam and achieved an independent state through struggle.

The atrocities being perpetrated against Muslims and other minorities in other Indian states, including Kashmir, are not being hidden from the world. It is encouraging that voices are sometimes raised against it in a forum, but the consistency with which this work should be done is not visible. There has been a global outcry, but delays in action have boosted the morale of Indian extremists.But delays in action have boosted the morale of Indian extremists. Before minorities in India are treated like Rohingya Muslims, the international community will have to take steps to stop this tyranny. If this extremism is not stopped, it will manifest itself in other countries in the future as well. India calls itself the largest democracy in the world, but in practice it is the opposite. The genocide of Muslims in India are provoking Muslims all over the world. If Indian racist genocidal acts are not stopped immediately, the region could be plunged into a new armed conflict.

Twitter: @Attiya Munawer

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Kazakhstan is on the way to big changes

 

Akan Rakhmetullin

On December 16, 2020 Kazakhstan is celebrating the 29th anniversary of its existence as a sovereign country. In historical terms this is, certainly, not a lot. But what should be well kept in mind, is that modern-day Kazakhstan and its people occupy a huge landmass, where Europe meets Asia and where ancestry of contemporary Kazakhs created and ran states, which had played their own distinguished role in Eurasian history. This is what we in Kazakhstan keep in mind. In doing so Kazakhstan massively marked this year the 750th anniversary of the mighty Golden Horde, whose founders set up the lineage of Kazakh khans. This is the reason why Kazakhstan is fully eligible to identify itself as one of the Golden Horde’s historical heir nations.

It causes no doubt that modern-day Kazakhstan, which is geographically located at the very heart of the world powers strategic interests, is simply destined to bridge Europe and Asia both politically and economically. This is what probably constitutes a fundamental mission of Kazakhstan, which it inherited from its predecessor states, and our country has been following for the last 29 years.

It is not enough to just comprehend the greatness of that mission. One must comply with it in every possible sense. For this reason, from the very onset of our independence in 1991 the First President of Kazakhstan and Leader of the Nation Nursultan Nazarbayev clearly articulated the country’s strong commitment. It is to build up an open, democratic and economically competitive society. That was the primary goal to achieve, what Kazakhstan’s multi-vector and peacemaking foreign policy was aimed at.

We are the world’s largest landlocked country, which makes us in turn to be keen in benefiting from it through extending the network of trade and transport routes in every possible way via Kazakhstan terrain with the aim of linking Europe and Asia, as did earlier the Great Silk Road.

After all, a primary time milestone for our country is 2050, which is expected to be the year of Kazakhstan’s joining the list of 30 most developed countries in the world. Kazakhstan has everything to meet this incredibly ambitious objective, and all we need to do is just to be sufficiently intelligent and careful in handling assets we have.

Kazakhstan is known today as the largest economy across Central Asia. This largely occurred due to our country’s possession of vast natural resources and skilled workforce. This, in turn, enables the government to develop vigorously the national economy’s diversification policy, leading the economy away from its any exorbitant dependence solely on raw materials export. Therefore, there are some initiatives that are taken for implementation to develop the economy in various areas, such as transport, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, petrochemicals and the food industry.

Another unique feature of the Kazakh economy is its openness and attractiveness for investments, including ones from the outside. This is brightly demonstrated by the relative statistics. Within the period from 1991 up to 2020 Kazakhstan succeeded to attract into its domestic economy 330 billion US dollars as direct foreign investments. This amount of investments certainly indicates that foreign investors are willing to come to Kazakhstan because of its political stability, educated personnel and capability to provide access to large regional markets. For instance, Kazakhstan membership in the Eurasian Economic Union makes investors access the Russian market with more than 140 million consumers and the common market of the Union with more than 180 million consumers.

Apart from that, by opening reginal offices in Kazakhstan overseas companies get easier access to the markets of West China (300 million consumers) and those of the Caspian countries (150 million consumers). This sort of understanding encouraged some big international companies to open their regional headquarters in our country. A number of global technology leaders and international companies, such as General Electric, Toyota Motors, Chevron, Hyundai Motors, Sanofi, Linde, Metro Group, Peugeot and Sumimoto Metal Mining, currently operate in Kazakhstan.

It is worthwhile to note that private investors activity in Kazakhstan is also driven by the Kazakh government’s forceful policy, which is designed to decrease steadily the volume of the state involvement in the economy. For example, over the last three years about 500 Kazakhstani companies were put up for sale under the privatization program, while assets sold to investors accumulated about 500 million US dollars. Privatization of large state-owned enterprises will keep going until the state’s share in the Kazakh economy reaches 18%.

Furthermore, the government’s measures to stimulate the growth of small and medium-sized businesses suggest that their total share in Kazakhstan GDP will increase to 35% by the year 2025. This goal is also to be achieved through implementation of the national strategy for gender equality, published in 2017, aimed at increasing women’s share in small and medium-sized businesses.

All business activity stimulating measures to have been mentioned above are reflected and well credited in leading international rating studies. Thus, the World Bank’s “Doing business for 2020” report ranks Kazakhstan as the 25th in the world, what is three positions higher, compared to last year’s indicators.

The spread of COVID-19 throughout the globe had certainly a negative effect to the Kazakh economy’s growth rates. But even these sorts of unfavorable circumstances prove the degree of Kazakhstan economy’s openness to the outside world and its inevitable dependence upon ongoing trends in the global economy. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan’s GDP growth is expected to reach 2.8% in 2021 and 4.6% by 2025.

Upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on January 10, 2021 should also contribute to further stabilization of the socio-political situation in Kazakhstan. It should be noted that the elections will be held after some norms were introduced into the legislation in the middle of the current year. These norms are to make the competition among political parties more intense and to confirm Kazakhstan’s commitment to develop truly democratic and responsible civil society.

There is no doubt that such massive economic and domestic political transformations cannot be drafted and implemented without favorable external conditions properly ensured. This is exactly the most fundamental task of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, which has constantly been designed to develop a peaceful and constructive dialogue with all countries of the world.

It is well known that at the very beginning of the 1990-s our country, which then was little known in the world, renounced nuclear weapons it inherited from the USSR, and shortly before that renouncement closed the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on its territory. Besides, Kazakhstan and other brotherly regional countries did their best to fix in legal terms the status of Central Asia as the nuclear-weapon-free zone.

Later on, of course, foreign policy of Kazakhstan got a massive credit from the international community. Over the years it became visible, when Kazakhstan was elected a chair country in some big international organizations, for instance, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as hosted global international events. Among the latter events the Summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the First Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Summit on Science and Technology both held in Kazakhstan in 2010 and 2017 respectively, are to be particularly noted. Election of Kazakhstan as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the years 2017-2018 was our foreign policy’s another great achievement, which significantly raised our understanding of what were the essence of global problems and their possible solutions.

Nowadays Kazakhstan is trying to apply this understanding upon the way it develops interstate relationship with all countries over the world, including, definitely, friendly Pakistan. With this in mind Kazakhstan greatly values a high- level political partnership between our countries, which was established from the very beginning of Kazakh-Pak relations.

The Independence Day is always a good opportunity for us to recall those countries, which were among the first to recognize Kazakhstan as a sovereign and independent state. One of them, as it is known, was Pakistan, which Kazakhstan legalized cooperation principles with in February of 1992 at the state visit of the President of H.E. Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev to Islamabad. Since then relations between Kazakhstan and Pakistan have developed only in a friendly and constructive way. Today the main task for both sides is to make a bilateral interstate dialogue a systematic and tangible result-oriented one, both in bilateral and multilateral cooperation formats.

The 9th meeting of the Pakistan-Kazakhstan Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural cooperation, which was held in Islamabad in February 2020 appeared to be a major breakthrough in a domain of a bilateral relationship. The meeting outcomes set up some long-awaited new guidelines for development between Kazakhstan and Pakistan in the years to come. Another point with regards to that Intergovernmental Commission meeting was that it took place after a five-year break following the previous meeting and surely became for this reason a quite notable event within the chronology of official Kazakh-Pak contacts through the outgoing year of 2020.

Another big event for bilateral relations was the maiden round of political consultations to have been also held in Islamabad in February 2020 at the level Foreign Ministries.

I note with great sense of satisfaction that trade volume between our countries, which was steadily declining over the past few years, has visibly increased this year. According to the Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics, the trade volume amounted within January-October 2020 to almost 37 million US dollars, while it totalled just 27 million US dollars through the entire 2019. These indicators are very clear to show us that trade and economic cooperation between our countries definitely has a potential to be further enhanced and extended.

Besides trade and economic relationship, Kazakhstan is very interested in exploring Pakistan’s vast experience in carrying out peacekeeping missions under the UN mandate. Defence and Foreign ministries of both countries are already in touch with mutual intention to develop this UN peacekeeping domain of Kazakh-Pak relationship. My personal belief is that launching a bilateral cooperation on international peacekeeping track is likely to be the best demonstration of friendly cooperation existing between Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

In conclusion I would like to extend the hope that the forthcoming year 2021, or the year of the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s Independence, will be even more prolific in terms of Kazakh-Pak contacts to get our bilateral relations stronger.

The writer is the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Pakistan.

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A Cry Over Kashmir

 

Farooq Alay

How long shall this brutal massacre, rape and arson continue in the India occupied Kashmir? Isn’t there an end to repression, over one and a half years long curfew, arrests, tortures, sieges and abductions? There is a long list of Indian atrocities; may I present here for record?

There are recorded incidents of massacre, mass graves, extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, suicide and psychological problems, disappearances and human rights violations. In Gawakadal massacre, on 21 January 1990, 51 civilians were killed by Indian troopers during protests against earlier raids in which wanton arrests and molestation of women were conducted. On January 25, 1990, two BSF patrolling parties in Handwara indiscriminately fired at peaceful protesters and killed 25 people. Indian forces killed 33 protesters and injured 47 on 1 March 1990 at Zakoora Crossing and Tengpora Bypass Road in Srinagar. At the funeral of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq on May 21, 1990 over 60 civilians were killed by paramilitary forces and hundreds injured in the indiscriminate firing on the funeral procession. On 6 January 1993 Indian troops killed 55 civilians in the town of Sopore and set many homes and buildings on fire. On 22 October 1993 the Indian Army killed 51 civilians during protests over the siege of the Hazratbal Mosque. 25 of those killed were students. On 27 January 1994 the Indian Army killed 27 civilians, mainly traders, in Kupwara district. Survivors say that the soldiers carried out the massacre to punish people for observing shutdown on January 26.

Mass Graves: a state HRC inquiry in 2011 confirmed there were thousands of bullet-ridden bodies buried in unmarked graves in IOK. Out of 2730 bodies, uncovered in 4 of the 14 districts, 574 bodies were identified as the missing. Total number of unmarked graves was more than 6,000.Likewise, extrajudicial killings at the hands of Indian security personnel were recorded by AI in its 1995 report,that hundreds of civilians had been victims of extrajudicial killings, which were often claimed by officers as occurring during “encounters” or “cross-fire”.95,623 brave Kashmiris were killed between January 1989 and June 2020, and 11,207 women gang raped or molested, according to the J&K Coalition of Civil Society.In October 2002, 300-500 people were killed during the election campaign.

Sexual violence and Torture: In Imroz’s study sample of 50 villages, more than 2,000 extreme cases of torture by army and paramilitaries were practiced since 1989. The frequent rape of Kashmiri women routinely goes unpunished. HR groups state that 150 Indian officers of the rank of major or above participated in sexual violence. One of the most horrific incidents is of gendered violence mass rapes committed by ISF in 1991; they raped 150 women and tortured nearly 200 men, during CASO in the region is the Kunan Poshpura.

According to a survey in 2012, 17,000 people, mostly women, have committed suicide during the past 20 years in the Valley. Sexual violence has been routinely perpetrated on Kashmiri women, with 11.6% of respondents saying they were victims of sexual abuse.” Due to the impact of the conflict, a number of people in the valley suffer from various psychological problems like stress, anxiety, mood and post-traumatic disorders. In 2016, the hospital is said to have been overcrowded with more than 100,000 patients.

Disappearances: As per local rights bodies, there are over 8,000 Kashmiri youth, who were killed in custody and were later buried in unmarked graves in these graveyards. In occupied Kashmir, boys aged 14 and 16 are held under dreaded Public Safety Act and sent to jails in India or bring them in the areas near the Line of Control and martyred them in fake encounters. Scratch a little deeper and the wounds of decades of conflict sweeping across the region open up when its 1500-odd widows and ‘half widows’ describe the pain of losing their husbands in course of the ongoing freedom fight. In June 2018, the United Nations, in its first-ever human rights report on Kashmir, wrote that there is also almost total impunity for enforced or involuntary disappearances, with little movement towards credibly investigating complaints, including into alleged sites of mass graves in Kashmir. According to APDP report, people are being detained under the mechanisms of a plethora of existing laws as well as many are held outside the purview of law, in order to suppress any form of political expression by the Kashmiri people.

HR Violations After Article 370 and 35A Abbrogation: Since the unrelenting military siege and crippling lockdown imposed by the fascist Modi on August 5, 2019, Indian troops have martyred 235 Kashmiri, at least 1321 people were critically injured. Indians damaged over 2940 houses and structures and molested 74 women during 2001 CASOs and arrested 13562 across the occupied territory. The Indians in quite violation of the international laws, started a new practice of burying the bodies of the martyred youth secretly, without religious funeral, at distant locations places in unmarked graves in the territory. World HR organizations like Amnesty International, International Committee of the Red Cross and Asia Watch to take notice of the plight of illegally detained innocent youth, lodged in various jails of India and Kashmir. As per local rights bodies, there are over 6,000 Kashmiri youth, who were killed in custody and were later buried in unmarked graves in these graveyards.

During all the CASO’s a common practice can be seen that Indian troops forcibly enter the houses, harass the inmates, arrest the youth and ransack their properties. It can be seen that after the abrogation of article 35A and 370, there was increase in the number of injured youth by pallet bullets and other deadly means. By injuring the youth with irreversible damages ISF are creating a whole generation of crippled and paralyzed Kashmiriswith lots of mental health crisis, who want be productive for their society. A 2010 US State Departmentreport cited extrajudicial killings by security forces in areas of conflict such as Kashmir as a major human rights problem in India. Christ of Heyns, a special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, has warned India that “all of these draconian laws had no place in a functioning democracy and should be scrapped.” On 14 June 2018 for the first time ever UNHRC released a report of 49 pages on human rights violations in Kashmir and accused India on the issue. Secretary General of AI Kumi Naidoo urged the Indian government to act in accordance with international human rights law and standards towards the people living in occupied Kashmir.

New British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons that the human rights situation in IHK following the lockdown of the region by the Modi government is “an international issue”. Antonio Guterres: “I go on with a clear opinion that human rights must be fully respected in the territory. Dialogue between India and Pakistan is an absolutely essential element for the solution of the Kashmir”.Geneva spokesperson OHCHR, Rupert Colville Tuesday 29th October 2019 says: “We are extremely concerned that the population of IHK continues to be deprived of a wide range of Human Rights and we urge the Indian authorities to unlock the situation and fully restore the rights that are currently being denied.” Likewise, UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Al Zaabi said that 177-day lockdown in occupied Kashmir is complete violation of human rights and the Indian Army’s atrocities have caused serious concerns.

(The writer is freelance columnist)

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Tackling Rapid Coronavirus Increase

 

Hamza Ali

As the death toll has risen to over four hundred thousand with almost 3000 cases being reported daily, there is a need to strictly follow SOPs though WHO says Pakistan is among countries from whom the international community should learn how to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The second wave is more lethal despite the nation displayed unity and civic sense but there is a dire need to curtail social exposure; the shortage of ICU beds, ventilators and even oxygen may cause severe damage to government’s efforts. Rapid increase in positive cases requires urgent steps to save lives and livelihoods; citizens should help in implementing safety guidelines in public places.

The virus has infected nearly 67 million people and killed close to 1.6 million. “Today marks an overdue and much-needed moment of reckoning. None of us could have imagined, this time last year, what was to come,” said General Assembly president Volkan Bozkir. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “it is time to reset”, the global response to crises like this. “As we build a strong recovery, we must seize the opportunity for change”.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan while describing the Covid-19 pandemic as “the most serious global crisis since WWII, presented a 10-point agenda for urgent action before the UN GA, underlying the measures the world community needs to take to defeat the pandemic. The first item on his list is a request for debt suspension till the end of the pandemic for low-income and most affected countries. He suggested cancellation of debt of least developed countries that are no longer in a position to repay their loans. Other items on the agenda include: restructuring of the public sector debt of other developing countries under an agreed inclusive multilateral framework; a general allocation of special drawing rights of &500 billion; expanded concessional financing to lower income countries through multilateral development banks; and creation of a new ‘liquidity and sustainability facility’, which should provide short-term loans at lower costs. The agenda also includes a reminder to rich nations to fulfill 0.7 percent of their official development assistance commitments and mobilizing the required $1.5 trillion annual investment in sustainable infrastructure. He also urged the world to help meet the agreed target of mobilizing $100 billion per year for climate action in developing countries. He called for immediate action to stop massive illicit financial outflows from developing countries to rich countries, to offshore tax havens. He also suggested immediate return of assets stolen by corrupt politicians and criminals back to these countries.

On the other hand, various countries have taken strict measures to live with the coronavirus. Take example of Tokyo; the Japanese government committee chairman has said that it takes at least one and a half years for the vaccine to be fully developed and officially put into use. Since the enemy cannot be completely eliminated, it is necessary to learn to coexist with the virus. “Only by following the new rules of life can we live in peace with the corona virus for a long time. In fact, most of the methods have been implemented in China.

The Japanese government while deciding to coexist with the demon, announced the “new life model” calling the people to be prepared to follow this model for an extended period of time and learn to live and work with the virus. Looking closely at these new life models, it can be seen that the Japanese government established these very practical set of SOPs using principles of rationality, science, and risk assessment. There are three basic points: keep a distance between people; wear a mask; and wash hands frequently.

Specific requirements urge people to keep a distance of two meters; play as much as possible outdoors; try to avoid being face to face direct facing when speaking to other people; go home and wash your face and clothes immediately; wash as soon as you touch someone’s hand; try online shopping and electronic settlement; supermarket shopping is best for 1 person, to choose time there are less people; try not to touch commodity samples; don’t talk on public transportation; go to work by bike or on foot; it is best to use electronic business cards; try to use video conference when meeting; to control the number of people in meetings, wear masks and open windows for ventilation; work at home or commute at off peak time; do not go to countries or places where the virus is endemic; try not to return home to visit relatives and travel, and control business trips; when you have symptoms, remember where you went and who you met; eat meals with others not face to face, preferably side by side; do not use large bowls and large pots to share food, implement a divided individual portion system; chat less at meal, eat more vegetables; try not to have too many people gathering at meal together as possible; avoid closed spaces, dense crowd flow, intimate contact; self-test body temperature every morning to strengthen health management; cover the lid when flushing the toilet; don’t stay too long in a narrow space; when walking and running, the number of people should be small, when meet each other stagger the distance.

Unfortunately, amidst the second wave of coronavirus, which is spreading at intense pace, due to which more than 50 deaths are being recorded daily, the public gatherings and rallies by PDM are continuing to hold. They may not accept it because it’s against their political ego, but they must realize that the common sense directly relates to the lives of innocent people. Their gathering in large numbers will put the people’s life at risk of death as the resurge of coronavirus is already playing havoc. This is like going insane to fulfilling venomous objectives. Playing with people’s life is a deliberate attempt to obliterate masses – for the sake of no return. If PDM continues doing so, the cases of coronavirus contract increase manifold.

It is predicted that the coronavirus increase will die down soon, our National Disaster Management department is doing well in this direction, but many opine that it would stay even longer than expected. So, Pakistan needs to adopt measures like that of Japan and the political parties must shun the path of dragging people to risk of life only for fulfilling their political agendas.

(The writer is freelance columnist)

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