COVID-19 Has No Religion
Report by Francis Xavier – Pakistan
SIGNIS Pakistan distributed rations to more than 200 families, especially to daily wage earners who have no work for more than two months due to the lockdown declared by the Pakistan government.
Fr. Qaisar Feroz OFM Cap., the President of SIGNIS Pakistan said, “it’s a hard time for the daily wage earners, their children are starving. So many people were never seen before on the roads begging for their families”. He raised funds through crowd-funding means.
Although the government is trying to do its best by providing ration and cash through Ehsaas (Concern) Program, it is not reaching all poor families as Pakistan has a huge population of 220 million. “We are trying to help our people in this challenging situation with ration, face masks and pamphlets of preventive guidelines”, said Fr. Qaisar. He expressed his hope saying, “People are learning to live with corona virus although life is not the same as before”.
Fr. Qaisar Feroz said, “In this moment, we need to build a human fraternity by showing our concern to the most needy and poor. Religious leaders should not take it as an opportunity for conversions”. This was a response to a statement by a leader who said, ‘a family changed its religion after receiving ration’. This statement was condemned by minority groups and individuals nationwide.
On the 26 February 2020, the Pakistan Federal Health Minister confirmed two cases of Corona virus in two major cities: Karachi and Pakistan. The news came as a big shock because Pakistan was not at all prepared for such a disastrous Corona virus Pandemic.
To prevent the spread of the Corona virus pandemic, the Government of Pakistan announced nation-wide lockdown on 1st of April 2020. A strong resistance came from religious groups saying their regular prayers would be affected. The others viewed that ‘social distancing’ is crucial at this point of time to stop the spread of the virus quoting examples of other countries.
They viewed that COVID-19 spread faster all over Pakistan due to pilgrims who carried it from other countries and engaged in celebrations. They even resisted authorities when asked to isolate themselves after testing positive to COVID-19 tests.
The government made very stern decisions to stop its spread. For the first two weeks, the lockdown was seriously observed but slowly people began to protest the lockdown as they had nothing to eat.
The daily wage earners were hit hard as they had nothing to feed their children. Many Islamic NGO groups came forward to provide ration for these people. There were reports saying that Christians were denied of rations. Saleem, a 66 years old laborer said, “as I approached the ration truck after waiting for 4 hours for my turn, the religious leader scolded me saying, go away, this ration is not for you”. This kind of discrimination was reported from various parts of Pakistan. Many people recorded their protests via social media. They made videos and posted on FaceBook and YouTube asking for help. At present there are 32,674 confirmed cases with 724 deaths so far.
