Pakistan’s bonhomie with China continues in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Sunday said that the Pakistani students who were left to their own in China by their government are now thanking the Pakistani authorities for not evacuating them. Briefing a team of doctors from China at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad, Zafar said that it was a tough decision for them but they just followed instructions from the Chinese.
“Today, now that the disease is spreading in Pakistan, the same students are thanking the government for not evacuating them and requesting us to take care of their families in the same way they were looked after by the Chinese government,” Zafar said. He said that when Pakistani President Arif Alvi Umar and their Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited China recently, they spoke to the students in Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, through Skype.
“They [students] thanked the president and said that the decision [to not bring them back] was the right thing to do, even though their families were pressuring the government to do so,” Zafar added. He also said, “The world has a lot to learn from China regarding the prevention and control of communicable diseases.”
The Government of Pakistan has proven itself to be thoroughly inept in curbing the pandemic. Even as the virus spread like wildfire, the authorities in the country were busy appeasing Islamic clerics in the country and assuring them that Mosques will not be shut down in the wake of the pandemic. Furthermore, an event organized by the Tableeghi Jamaat near Lahore has ensured that the virus has spread far and wide within the country and even to foreign lands. Indeed, it has become a breeding ground for the crisis.
Pakistan’s profuse praises for the Chinese government is not surprising in the wake of the pandemic is not surprising given their recent antics. The relationship between the two countries has strengthened manifolds as China has been providing economic assistance to the country as part of their efforts towards becoming a global hegemony. Over time, Imran Khan has turned a blind eye to the persecution of Uighur Muslims in China even as he rants and rails for the Ummah for the supposed ‘plight of Muslims’ in India.