I don't have enmity with anyone: PM.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan in Thursday's National Assembly sitting said PTI's government has never been in confusion in tackling novel coronavirus (COVID-19) since the start of the pandemic in the country.

'There was no contradiction in my statements on the matter of coronavirus and there has never been any confusion in dealing with the pandemic, as repeatedly stated by the opposition,' said Prime Minister Imran Khan, amid desk-thumping from treasury benches. Unlike previous practice, Prime Minister faced no interruption from opposition during one of his longest speeches on the floor of the house.

The PM said that there was a need for a balanced strategy to avoid the spread of COVID-19 and also prevent the poorer segments of society from going hungry.

Regarding the lockdown policy, he said the government has to take care of poor people living in densely populated area and avoid the risk of increasing cases before imposing lockdown.

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'Every country was going through its own experience to deal with novel situation of coronavirus, and the situation in our region was bit different to deal with it,' he said, mentioning his government had imposed a lockdown to strop the increase of COVID-19 when the country had only 26 cases and no deaths.

'It was my fear from day one that the lockdown model used by Western countries and China could not be copied in our country because of different situations in the subcontinent,' he said and rushed to mention that there was no centralised policy as provinces reacted as per their own strategy.

Regarding the examples of New Zealand in adopting social distancing, he said New Zealand has social distancing already with a low population density. Whereas, Pakistan has a high population density in many areas. He confidently remarked that the figures now coming in had shown that the government took the right steps to respond to the health crisis.

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About criticism of him for changing statements on coronavirus, he did not hesitate to challenge opposition to 'point out one statement that had inconsistency' since the lockdown was first announced on March 13.

He appreciated the National Command and Operation Centre (NOCOC) for collecting all the information on a daily basis and looking at trends with expert help due to which 'our decision making was free of inconsistencies.'

The premier...