APD | Pakistani students satisfied with their look after in China

By APD writerImdad Hussain

Pakistani students specially in Wuhan are all praise for the Chinese leadership for their look after and contrary to their earlier reaction are greatly satisfied as their ordeal is almost over with China almost conquering the battle against the deadly pandemic.

They revealed these feeling during an interaction with President Dr Arif Alvi’s delegation who were on China visit to express solidarity with the ‘Iron Brother’ in the hour of trial.

As the Coronavirus has been declared an international pandemic and all the countries are making efforts to check its spread as with passing day its deadly impact has caused alarms all over the world.

Every country is worried what could be the best strategy to fight out this new virus which struck the world a few months ago. In this regard, lessons could be learned from the Chinese experience.

The pandemic had originated from China’s Hubei province but now the situation there is almost under control with no new case reported today.

As the pandemic broke in China in late December last year, Pakistani students demanded of their government evacuate them from Wuhan and had accused Islamabad of betraying them.

The families of Pakistani students ‘stranded’ in China had protested in Islamabad, demanding that the government evacuate the students. However, Pakistani officials were of the view that the students were in "safe hands".

Some of the students were reportedly living under the constant fear of catching the virus. Asif Sajjad, a student at Wuhan University, had said that many of them were under psychological stress.

"We have been confined to our rooms for weeks. If anyone coughs or sneezes, it sends a shiver down our spines to think the person may have caught the virus," he had stated.

No doubt, they faced certain problems including food shortage in the wake of alarming nature of the pandemic but it was a wise decision on part of the Pakistani government, primarily due to the fact that China was far more well equipped to counter the menace and secondly, to contain it’s would be spread, later proved true.

This very fact was also highlighted by Pakistani ambassador to China Ms Naghmana Hashmi that the local hospitals were better equipped to treat the deadly coronavirus, and therefore, unlike some other countries, Pakistan will not evacuate its students amid the outbreak.

Leader of the Upper House in Pakistan Shibli Faraz under pressure from the different opposition parties was forced to tell the house that it was not a definite decision and if the situation changed Pakistani students would be evacuated.

However, as the things unfolded, despite huge internal pressures, Pakistani government stuck to its decision of non-evacuation of over 1,000 students from Wuhan, the decision which was also backed by China.

“If such large number of students come back, this will cost huge health operations for the Pakistani government. If the isolation facilities are not ready, this can cause another outbreak of this virus in Pakistan,” Li Bijian, Consul General of China in Karachi, had told reporters.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who was with President Alvi during the Chinese visit said that President Xi Jinping thanked Pakistan for standing by it during this difficult time and for the trust not to evacuate the students, saying when the world was trying to stigmatize China, Pakistan was the first country to stand by it.

The delegation met Pakistani students from nine universities, some via video call, and told their leadership that they are fine, they trust them and are no longer stressed rather they are now concerned about the situation in Pakistan.

The students were quite happy as they told us that four the females gave birth to babies during this period, one was carrying her baby while they also shared their pictures with us, Shah Mahmood said while talking to a private TV channel on return from China.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has been suggesting the world should follow China’s lead. Italy and Iran made the mistake of not enforcing an early policy of social distancing and by the time they acted, it was already too late.

Countries across the world must take a comprehensive approach to fighting the pandemic of COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus and isolate, test and trace as many cases as possible, the World Health Organization said in its latest statement.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)