Health minister of Punjab, Pakistan Dr. Yasmin Rashid was invited to the talk show of anchor Shahzeb Khanzada. She was expected to talk about the dire situation of the pandemic in Pakistan, what role the government was playing, and why it was not working. Instead, she opined that the Pakistanis, especially Lahoris were “Jahil” (ignorant) and they were responsible for the spike in COVID-19 cases in the city.
Currently, the total cases of coronavirus in Pakistan are 149,000 and rising. 2,839 people have died and 56,390 are recovered.
People have slammed Dr. Rashid on social media for laying the blame of rising cases on the public’s ignorance. They think that the government has eventually given up due to a lack of efficiency in their ranks, so they have chosen the last resort; blame the people.
Opposition Responds To Dr. Yasmin Rashid
Khawaja Imran Nazir from PML-N immediately came forward to score some political points by defending the intellect of Pakistanis and Lahoris.
He also meant that the government was blaming the public to hide their incompetence. Government has performed poorly throughout this pandemic. It started during 1-10 March and the first death was reported on 20th March. Yet, the government started imposing lockdown on 1st April; almost one month after the detection. So calling the people “jahil” just doesn’t make sense.
Why Is Government Surprised of Behaviour Of People?
An effective government knows about its people and devises a strategy to manage them accordingly. What kind of government lashes out at people for not following their instructions? Sounds much like the dictatorship vibes in Donald Trump’s regime. Did they ever try to make sure that if 40% illiterate people actually understand those instructions? Dr Yasmin Rashid and Imran Khan need to go to school again if they think they have implemented a sensible strategy for “Jahil” people of Pakistan.
Plain And Simple Hypocrisy
People have termed this behavior as hypocrisy on part of Dr. Rashid by sharing a picture of their PM. Apparently the premier is not as keen on following SOPs.
The attitude of Dr Rashid implies that masks, social distancing etc are important but not according to this picture which is circling among the people. It is easy to call people “Jahil” and also not provide them with enough schools. It is also funny when politicians call people “jahil”, these people are the ones who selected them. So what do they mean, how they became politician?: an ignorant decision by ignorant people?
Government is having a hard time admitting that their flawed strategy has finally failed. Which is why this blame game is going on. Actress Mansha Pasha also opined that people not following the SOPs was inevitable. There was no check and balance since the beginning. Many businesses remained open after some “setting” with the police when it was supposed to be lockdown. It’s sad that everyone knows this except the government. They consider themselves so smart that they see all thier failures as the mistakes of people.
What Is The Point Of Having A Government Then?
The government either ran out of already limited ideas or they are just taking advantage of this illiterate, ignorant, and naive population. This user feels that Dr Rashid should have at least pretended to care about people. Her current attitude towards them does not imply that the government is interested in saving lives. They are looking for scapegoats for their failure.
How Much People Of Pakistan Are Responsible?
Perhaps harsh but the words spoken by the provincial ministers were true. People have also displayed an insurmountable level of carelessness during the pandemic. Citizens immediately rushed to markets when the government made a mistake in lifting the lockdown. They could have used their own minds when the government clearly didn’t.
