Pakistan’s military parade on National Day slammed by citizens

Citizens of Pakistan on Friday slammed the military parade in Islamabad on the occasion of Pakistan’s National Day saying that it is “unnecessary” as the nation faces a dire economic situation due to a surge in Covid-19 infections.

According to unconfirmed estimates, the Republic Day military parade cost billions of rupees. Experts say that the military parade proves that the Pakistan government’s priorities are flawed.

“Military strength without economic stability is hollow. Wars are fought with tanks, fighter planes and warships, which need fuel that is bought with money. For this we need a strong economy,” said Kaiser Bengali, an economist.

“The Republic Day public gathering can spread the virus even more. At least the government should not have held a public ceremony. All such events should be avoided until 75 per cent of the population is vaccinated,” said Qaiser Sajjad, secretary-general of the Pakistan Medical Association.

“A year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing remotely encouraging has been undertaken by PM Imran Khan, whose leadership has been, in a word, underwhelming,” Waghmar said.

Pakistan is now going through the third wave of COVID-19 with its national positivity ratio of COVID-19 cases shooting past 10 per cent on Thursday.

The latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed the COVID-19 has claimed 63 more lives and 4,368 fresh infections were reported during the period.

The total count of active cases is 40,120 and the positivity rate stands at 10.29 per cent.