SHALINI CHAWLA COVID-19 AND PAKISTAN: EMERGING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS

The second important factor responsible for the spread of the virus has been the reluctance of the clerics and religious preachers to close the mosques for Friday prayers. [...] Imran Khan’s logic has been that given the state of the The Prime Minister has been deeply concerned about the economic situation but the fact remains that the spread of the virus caused due to the delay in lockdown did aggravate the situation in Pakistan. [...] The decision of BNP-M certainly adds to the vulnerability of the current regime which has a fragile majority in the National Assembly.25 The BNP-M has accused the PTI of not keeping to its promises and not paying adequate attention to the Baloch sufferings. [...] After the announcement of the lockdown the army has been deployed all over the country to oversee the COVID-19 response efforts through the National Core Committee.30 Interestingly, Commander of the Air Defence Command, Lt Gen Hamood 27. [...] PTI’s inability to handle the domestic situation has allowed the military to taking over the important and lucrative positions is the appointment of the Air Marshal (Retd) Arshad Malik as the head of the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).