Malik seeks result-oriented session on pandemic.

ISLAMABAD -- Chairman Standing Committee on Interior Senator Rehman Malik, on Monday, said that the nation needed a result-oriented parliamentary session on the coronavirus pandemic. He said that the steps by the federal government were non-serious and the advice of World Health Organization was not being followed in markets, streets and other public places. He advised the Prime Minister to deal the Coronavirus as per WHO's SOPs.

He said that he wished the government had followed his 37 points Anti-Coronavirus National Action Plan proposed earlier on February 27th, when only two cases were confirmed across the country. The senator said that his 37 Points Anti-Coronavirus National Action Plan contained complete SOP s and was approved by the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and was handed over to Secretary Health, all provincial governments and all concerned departments.

He said that the situation would have been far different and better if those 37 points were followed in true letter and spirit. He said that neither he was criticizing nor was playing any blame game but being the Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior, he felt that it would be his failure in performing national duty if he did not point out the mistakes. He said that survival was in complete lockdown and there was nothing called smart lockdown in the law. Discussion on Force Majeure Law in Parliament: Senator A. Rehman Malik reinforced his proposal to discuss in the Senate session to invoke the Force Majeure Law to get relief on external debt. In this regard, he wrote to opposition leader in Senate Raja Zafar ul Haq and Advisor for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Babar Awan to consider supporting his two Resolutions in the Senate Session that would commence on May 12, 2020.

He said that the Senate session was being summoned in very difficult moments when the nation was confronting deadly coronavirus and therefore the session should be meaningful and result-oriented. He said that he had already submitted two resolutions to the Senate Secretariat and had also written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan suggesting that the international financial institutions should be requested under Force Majeure Law for deferment of repayments and loans in wake of the adverse effects of coronavirus on Pakistan's economy.

The Senator said that his resolutions for seeking a debate on invoking the Force Majeure Law and advising the government to not take further foreign loans were purely...