Senior analyst Hafeezullah Niazi has trained guns at the government, especially Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan over the decision to deploy army for ensuring COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed.

“Then what good are you? What good is the police force?,” he asked addressing the premier in response to a question by the host of the talk show he was appearing on.

The host had asked Niazi if the decision to deploy the army exposed the government’s failure in dealing with anything from natural calamities to law and order situations and enforcement of COVID-19 SOPs in this case.

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It is pertinent to note that the government announced its decision to summon the army as the third wave of the pandemic continues to take toll on Pakistan.

According to reports, the Interior Ministry has issued a notification allowing the provinces and federal territories to seek the help of the army to enforce SOPs for curbing the spread of the coronavirus.

In a video message on Sunday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said according to the notification, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Islamabad will avail the services of the Pakistan Army for implementation of Covid-19 SOPs “as per their need”. He said Sindh had not opted to be part of the measure for now.

اسلام آباد۔ 25 اپریل

این سی سی کے COVID-19 وبا کے خلاف سول حکومت کی مدد کے لئے افواج پاکستان اور سول آرمڈ فورسز کی تعیناتی کے حوالے سے اہم اعلان۔ pic.twitter.com/Hw2SMsknVo

— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) April 25, 2021

He added that this was a “big decision” taken because neighbouring India was reporting 350,000 or more Covid cases on a daily basis.