Chaos And Hardship: Imran Khan Is Right To Oppose Lockdowns

I have a love hate relationship with the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan (whom I have never met, and will probably never meet ).

I have strongly criticised him in the past for certain things he did which I thought were wong e.g. taking support of religious extremists in the elections, giving PTI tickets to dubious 'electables' (including some shady sugar barons and Amir Liaquat whose TV show resulted in murder of some Ahmadis in the past), sacking  the renowned Princeton based economist Atif Mian from the Pakistan Economic Advisory Council only because he was an Ahmadi, etc.

But I have also praised him for advocating peace and dialogue when there were war clouds after the Pulwama attack and the Balakot strike.

Imran Khan's latest statement that the economy cannot afford a long lockdown as it particularly hits the poor the hardest, displays the maturity and sagacity which is expected of a statesman. Imran Khan must also must have been under tremendous pressure from several quarters to declare a nationwide lockdown, as was done by PM Modi on 24th March. But to Khan's credit it must be said that while imposing a lockdown he has repeatedly been saying that a balanced approach must be adopted, and the poor must be kept in mind. So a prolonged lockdown would not be correct.

Imran Khan has rightly said that one should not take decisions forced by the elite, or based on ideas coming from the West.

In contrast, the Indian government appears to have acted in haste in imposing a lockdown on 24th March at 8.p.m. effective from midnight giving only 4 hours notice to the public. The result has been nationwide chaos and terrible hardships to the poor, especially the daily wagers and migrants who constitute 80-90% of the Indian workforce i.e. 40-45 crore people who are now without any source of livelihood, and are on the verge of starvation with their families, as I mentioned in my last article on this website.

I strongly urge the Indian political leaders to follow the advice of Imran Khan and lift the lockdown immediately, failing which there may be large scale food riots and civil disorder, as was witnessed at the time of the French Revolution of 1789 when people in Paris had no bread, or in the Russian February Revolution of 1917 when women in St Petersburg demonstrated demanding food, or at the time of the Great Bengal Famine of 1943-44.