Asad Umar's skills.

Byline: S.R.H. Hashmi - Karachi

WHILE it was indeed a sad and tragic matter with nothing to rejoice about, still the skillful manner in which Asad Umar recently gave his presentation on television about Covid-19 was a pleasure to watch.

He presented the Covid-19 casualties in Pakistan, duly adjusted for comparison with figures in Western countries, which proved that the fatality figures were far lower in Pakistan.

He also talked about survey in various countries about the effects of lockdown on the population and inferred, as also proved by survey, that with a significant proportion of Pakistanis already below the poverty line in our country, the effects of the lockdown were far worse in Pakistan compared to that in the Western countries.

And on the basis of these figures, and in view of peculiar circumstances prevailing here, he made out a case for gradual easing of the lockdown in Pakistan. To emphasise his point, he said that deaths in road accidents are much higher in Pakistan but because of that, we don't stop vehicles from running on roads.

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