Pakistan’s response to Covid was horrible & extremely political. The across the board shutdown was the need of the hour & we played politics resulting in the loss of more than 6000 lives. State didn’t force people to follow the protocol. There was no smart lockdown anywhere. From earthquakes to now a first time Pandemic, it has always been the boots to help stabilize weak state machinery. No surprise there, or anything new that you may have mentioned. Democracy; a mere word misconstrued to political gains in Pakistan.
Since Govt didn’t force protocols & let COVID spread amongst masses, compounded with lower testing, tracing, & isolating, people stopped going for the tests. Q is how the curve starts to flatten? Is it the antibodies or ppl became cautious? Is it some sort of divine intervention? The military’s increasing control seems to be a response to Khan & his govt’s initial performance on COVID. As a retired general told the FT: “The govt left a big gap in its handling of the coronavirus. The army has tried to fill that gap, there was no choice.”
Call your relatives, friends, go on the roads & see if there is any SOP being followed or forced upon? We probably got herd immunity after letting the corona spread.
In my in laws, 08 people contacted the virus, with all the symptoms, but none got tested. There were also several other factors at play: Khan’s apparent decline in popularity with the public, an exposé of a sugar industry scam, fissures within Khan’s party’s ranks, and the fracturing of his weak coalition in parliament.
Not to be left behind, the provincial government in Punjab — specifically its legislative assembly and its textbook board — has also used this time to indulge in illiberal impulses, seemingly taking advantage of a permissive environment to do so. In the last 60 years, the generals have directly ruled 33 years and their incubatees have ruled the rest (Bhutto, Sharif, and IK) Disappointed face True democracy has not yet touched Pakistan. The ‘have nots’ have no representation.
An interesting perspective. I agree with most of what you said, except that I strongly believe military won’t try to play the pawn game with Khan for he is intelligent enough to be a good boy for them. This constant reference to Indian Hinduvta and new map isn’t for public. So far virus management has given good results .. investors are now spending money .. markets are open, hospitals are not under pressure, confidence is back, even Victoria has military to help with the virus management.
Exactly as was predicted by Swedish professor Johan Giesecke. He expressed his fears of authoritarian regimes getting more powers, in the wake of pandemic. Actually the lesson is how collective state capacities military included were able to defeat a pendamic while also delivering one of the largest social protection cash transfer program. You took a very helicopter view of the situation. Still a good perspective.
