While the covid-19 pandemic rages on, it should not be ignored that Pakistan has experienced some positives. Perhaps the most heartening sign has been the decline in the positivity rate, with the rate of daily infections down by 50 percent in the last month. That means that the health authorities seem to have got right the method of taking measures that bring the coronavirus under some sort of control, without having to shut down the country entirely. It not only means that the country has avoided the worst effects of the dreaded delta variant, but will probably avoid it in future. This control has led in no small degree to travellers being allowed into the UK, with Pakistan’s alert status being revised to amber from the previous red. While the most overjoyed will be those members of the large Pakistani Diaspora who intend travelling between the two countries, any remaining doubts about the figures officially supplied by Pakistan stand dispelled. This contrasts with India, whose pandemic-related figures have been challenged to the point that no one really accepts them, at home or abroad.
Along with those positives, there are some negatives, mainly centred on vaccines. Vaccines have proved central to the fight against the pandemic, and supply problems seem to have been overcome. One problem that has emerged is that because vaccines are only for those who possess CNICs, all those who do not have a CNIC now need one to carry out a myriad functions of daily life, because it is not even possible even to travel to another city without a vaccine. The result has been a rush at NADRA offices. Not only are there long queues in the heat of September, but NADRA is on the verge of collapse. While not as serious as the healthcare system collapse that loomed, it could still jeopardize the entire exercise. This of course does not take account of the risk of infection among those queuing and flagrantly violating social distancing rules.
The Interior Minister needs to look at this aspect of the operation, and arrange necessary measures, up to and including temporary NADRA offices. It does seem hard lines to make people suffer when they try to comply with the government’s conditions. Those conditions may work, but they must also be practical.
