Karachi:More people would die of hunger than coronavirus if the government failed to announce a huge support package to keep the wheels of industry moving; otherwise, already precarious supply chain would seriously suffer and the country would witness food riots. This was said by Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Tuesday.
He said that the Pakistani industrialists are praiseworthy as despite lack of any support from the government side they are trying hard that their workers are not rendered jobless and the wheels of industry keep moving. He said; however, without a government support no industrialist can continue paying wages to workers on sustainable basis, when their production and selling is seriously affected.
He warned if the industry suffers it would bring a Tsunami of unemployment and more people would die of hunger than coronavirus infection. He said crime and depression levels are on the rise in whole Pakistan and soon food riots would emerge if the government failed to maintain the already threatened supply chain. He said many big industries have monthly salary bills of several millions and due to liquidity crunch they cannot pay these salaries to their workers. He said if the lockdown continued it would result in a huge economic devastation of Pakistan.
Altaf Shakoor warned that our economy is not as strong as the economies of the western countries. He said the Pakistani people do not have gotten any social security cover to sustain longer periods of lockdown and business inactivity. He said the government would not get anything by arrests and blackmailing of industrialists, adding if the government is serious to save lives of Pakistanis, it should work to ensure resumption of industrial and commercial activities after ensuring proper social distance protocols and precautions.
Altaf Shakoor regretted that the federal and provincial governments are busy in mudslinging and blame gaming even in the times of coronavirus. He asked the Sindh and federal governments to stop political maneuvering and try to save the megacity Karachi, as if this revenue engine of Pakistan is halted the whole nation and country would feel dire consequences.
He said the government and people should play their individual and collectives roles to fight the coronavirus. He said the healthcare sector needs huge funding at both federal and provincial level. He said; however, political brawls between the federal and Sindh government at these crucial times are not acceptable, or justifiable. He asked the federal and Sindh government to postpone their political point scorning for a few months and dedicatedly give focus to save precious lives of people and precious economy of Pakistan.