PM hopes Pakistani people to emerge as great, stronger nation from war against COVID-19

ISLAMABAD, Apr 1 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan describing the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic as an “extraordinary situation”, Wednesday hoped that the people of Pakistan, by fighting and winning the war against Coronavirus with unity, faith, discipline and sagacity, would emerge as a great and stronger nation.
“Nothing is impossible. Every difficulty is considered as a test for us. Allah Almighty has repeatedly said in the Holy Quran that He continues to test our faith. And I hope this [Pakistani] nation will emerge as a great and stronger nation from this test,” he said while participating in a private television’s live telethon held for raising funds for the Prime Minister’s Fund for COVID-19.
The prime minister said as the COVID-19 pandemic had spread and affected the people worldwide including the leaders of some Western countries and the situation during coming weeks and months could not be predicted, the war against this deadly contagion in Pakistan could only be won with unity of nation.
Advising the people to take preventive measure against the COVID-19 including social distancing and limiting themselves within homes, he, however warned the law enforcing personnel to avoid taking strict action against those coming out of houses.
“We cannot fight and win the war against COVID-19 by putting people in jails. If we will not take care of our people, we cannot win this war,” the prime minister said while calling for spreading awareness among people about the disease.
He said the Corona Relief Tigers Force besides aiding the civil administration and army in the distribution of food and other essentials at doorsteps in the areas under lock-down, would also create awareness about preventive measures including social distancing.
The prime minister said with high-level meetings being held on daily basis, the federal government was in contact with the provinces and was taking required measures including the analysation of data on regular basis to assess the situation and trends of Coronavirus spread in the country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan referred to the devastating situation arising out of the COVID-19 in various countries including the United State, UK, France, Italy, Spain etc. and said the war against Coronavirus could not be fought and won by the governments alone but by nations through unity.
He mentioned the allocation of a historic around US $ 8 billion as corona relief package by his government for a population of 220 million in Pakistan despite various hardships in contrast to $ 2200 billion announced by the United States for around 300 million people and said Pakistan had not much resources to fight such a level of disease which had shaken the whole world.
The prime minister, however, added that with Pakistan, being among the top five charity giving countries and second on having nation comprised of young people, could fight and win the war against Coronavirus by properly utilizing its youth and charity.
He said the establishment of Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Fund was aimed at channelizing and utilizing the funds raised by charity for fighting the war against COVID-19 through a coordinated national effort.
The prime minister said the government had also decided to allocate Rs. 150 billion to cater to the financial needs of the poor and deserving, affected by the lock-downs in the wake of Coronavirus, by distributing cash through the Ehsas Emergency Cash programme.
He said the process of utilization of money to be deposited by people in the PM’s Corona Relief Fund as well as the distribution of cash among the deserving would be made transparent in a way that every penny spent from this fund would be accounted through a computerized database system.
To a question, the prime minister said the Corona Relief Tiger Force would supplement the efforts of government as well as civil and armed forces’ personnel in reaching out to and identifying the poor and needy in Mohallas, Slums, Kachi Abadis and Villages affected due to the Corona situation.

Prime Minister Imran Khan recalled his experience of fund-raising for Shaukat Khanam cancer hospital and hoped that as people from showbiz world including artists were among the generous contributors, they would contribute in the Corona Relief Fund as well.
Referring to the analysis of data based on the daily situation of Coronavirus, he said that if they continue to take precautionary measures until April 25, the number of Coronavirus cases would remain in the range of 20,000 to 25,000 otherwise the number of Corona cases could reach 50,000.
He reiterated his call for preventive measures and said the people of country by exercising the measures like self-distancing could help save the lives of elderly and those with weaker health conditions.
The prime minister said that keeping in view the problems of laborers and daily-wagers, the government was going to open the construction industry so that people with some precautionary measures could earn their livelihoods.
While allowing the construction industry to start their activities, he said, they had to maintain a balance in a way that at one hand people were able to work for earning and on the other, they also did not get affected by the disease.
During the live telethon, people from various walks of life including philanthropists, representatives of public and private organization, sportsmen, artists etc in their telephonic conversations made pledges of millions of rupees for the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Fund.