SC orders opening of all shopping malls.

Byline: Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the federal government's decision to close shops, markets and businesses on Saturdays and Sundays, saying it reflected no justifiable rationale.

The SC order required the provincial governments to open all shopping malls without any hindrance or obstruction but ensure strict adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs). 'The businessmen shall be allowed to do their business on all days, which is permissible under the law, subject to enforcement of SOPs,' the Supreme Court ruled after a suo motu hearing on government's efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.

Looking at the past history of Pakistan where business activities of private entrepreneurs were interfered with by the governments, the apex court cautioned, such entrepreneurs lost faith in the system and packed up to move to some other destinations in the world, where they considered their investment to be more safe and profitable.

'If the businesses and industries remain closed for a long time, their revival becomes doubtful, more and more, and in case they are not revived, millions of workers will be on streets and the government may face a human disaster and calamity of such a magnitude [that] to overcome [it] may become next to impossible,' feared Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed.

A five-judge SC bench headed by the chief justice expressed the hope that the government would not divert all resources to prevention of the coronavirus pandemic alone. The country should not be made dysfunctional because of this disease, for its consequences will be highly detrimental to the people of Pakistan, cautioned the chief justice.

CJP deplores that 'coronavirus, which apparently is not a pandemic in Pakistan, is swallowing so huge money'

The federal and provincial governments will address the court on this point again on Tuesday.

'We note that thousands of people die on account of brain haemorrhage, cardiac failure, hepatitis, dengue, kidney failure, liver failure, pulmonary and other related ailments and all these deaths go in hundreds of thousands every year. Even Health Secretary Dr Tanveer Ahmed Qureshi conceded that over the years in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) almost one thousand people die only on account of pollen allergy,' the chief justice said.

Acting Advocate General for Punjab Shan Gul told the apex court that the provincial government had approached the National Health Services (NHS) to...

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