First Day Of Lockdown in Karachi

lockdown in karachi
Rangers patrolling during lockdown in Karachi

It was from a friend's Whatsapp status I was first acquainted with coronavirus. What didn't feel like more than mass hysteria among boomers, gradually turned into a global pandemic. It overshadowed the epidemics of the 20th and the 21st century. Forget about the Spanish Flu (1918-20). Forget about SARS and MERS. "Corona" was the most feared virus in the whole wide world now. People started making memes about it. They were already making memes about how 2020 would be like the end of the world. They were saying how the 20th year of every century brought destruction over the mankind. Then, Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani. People went bullocks over that. "Hey, Trump just killed the Iranian general", the people starting yelling. "The Third World War is just beyond the corner, guys." But, fortunately, we avoided that threat. Then this thing which we had christened "the Chinese virus" or "the Wuhan virus" spread into Europe and America. As more people started dying from this disease, people realized they weren't dealing with an average epidemic no more. It was time to lockdown entire countries and bring the world affairs to a temporary stop. lockdown in Karachi

The Pakistanis felt they were immune from this disease as if somehow they were the chosen people of God. They shared border with China and Iran. Both China and Iran had tons of coronavirus cases and the coronavirus news reached Pakistan where it met deaf ears. It was in February that the first case of coronavirus was reported in Pakistan. It was a guy called Yahya, a Shiite Muslim, who had returned from Iran. He was a student of the University of _______ and had enrolled in the same department as me. Yikes! The first Pakistani coronavirus patient was my fellow student! Well, technically, not a fellow student. 'Cause he was in the evening batch and I was in the morning one. He was also a year my senior and I didn't know even of his existence before I heard he had contracted coronavirus. But that was just the beginning. You see, Shiites believe in a chain of saints they call imams (Chiefs) who are mostly buried in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. Saudi Arabia is ruled by Wahhabis so Shiites don't have much freedom to go and venerate the graves of their saints in Mecca and Medina. But they do massively visit the gigantic shrines of these holy people in Iran and Iraq. In Iran, the cities of Qom and Mashhad receive millions of visitors annually (I guess!). Shiites believe that these shrines are spiritual centers of both mental stability and bodily health. But, in 2020, these shrines became transmitters of coronavirus. And people received that virus like the blood and body of Christ! lockdown in Karachi


In February and March, many pilgrims (called zairin in Urdu/Persian) returned from their visits from Iran. They enter Pakistan via the Pakistani city of Taftan that borders Iran. Taftan is in the Baluchistan province. The Baluchistan government was very inefficient and sluggish when it came to putting these pilgrims in quarantine first. That's how hundreds of infected pilgrims reached the province of Sindh and the city of Sukkur became a major hub of coronavirus. Now, the Sindh government of Pakistan was quite alarmed when the first Pakistani coronavirus patient appeared right in the middle of Karachi. Karachi, as y'all know, is the capital of Sindh and the financial backbone of the entire country. Karachi had to be secure at all costs! Heck, the entire Sindh had to be secure at all costs! It wasn't like the controversy of children in Thar dying from the lack of drinkable water. It was a disease. A pandemic that could spread in the entire country. So, Murad Ali Shah, the Chief Minister of Sindh, took matters in his hands. (I'm saying that because the party leader is actually ex-President Asif Ali Zardari) The entire Pakistan seems to have followed his example after he'd declared a lockdown in Karachi. lockdown in Karachi lockdown in Karachi lockdown in Karachi lockdown in Karachi

lockdown in karachi
CM Murad Ali Shah

Long story short. In March, when it seemed that Pakistan could become more devastated than Italy, CM Shah declared that entire Sindh would be in a state of complete shutdown from 23rd of March to the next two weeks. But the grocery stores, petrol pumps, banks, convenience stores, vegetable markets and other necessary shops would be open. He had previously closed all educational institutions. He and the Prime Minister Imran Khan had appealed to the people of Pakistan to stay home and stop mingling with each other. The doctors' recommendations to avoid shaking hands, observe social distancing and not organize large gatherings had been met with discomfort from religious groups. Some mullahs had started calling this entire pandemic a Jewish scheme (Yahudi Sazish) that was sketched in order to make people sway away from Islam. But, as Arab countries had started banning religious congregations and even Mecca was under quarantine, the doctors of Pakistan won. The state realized that its appeals were being unproductive. So, first CM Shah declared lockdown in Karachi. Then CM Buzdar of Punjab reluctantly followed suite. Gradually, it seems that this lockdown will move to a total curfew because people are still gathering, playing sports, going to eat nazr-o-niyaz at relatives' places or simply not keeping their arses in their houses.

CM Punjab (India) had tried with a lockdown but then he had to move to curfew. As the first day of lockdown is at its end, we can just home that the people observe quarantine and keep themselves healthy. One sentence is echoing all over social and electronic media: "Corona doesn't come inside your house; you go outside to get it." lockdown in Karachi lockdown in Karachi lockdown in Karachi

lockdown in karachi
Quetta (Balochistan)

As some are fond to say, stay the fudge home, people. lockdown in Karachi lockdown in Karachi 

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