Issue raised by Pak was that Kashmir must have facilities to combat COVID-19: Yechury

PTI, Mar 17, 2020, 10:42 AM IST

New Delhi: A day after Pakistan raised Kashmir during a video-conference of the SAARC nations on coronavirus, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday, March 16 said that the neighbouring country only wanted that the valley should also have the facilities to combat the pandemic.

Addressing a press conference at the CPI(M) head office here, he said, “It all depends on the conversation. I was not privy to it. According to what I read, if that is true, then the only issue raised by Pakistan was that the Kashmir valley should also have the facilities to combat the virus.”

Pakistan used the SAARC nations’ video-conference on Sunday to raise Kashmir, with the country’s State Minister of Health Zafar Mirza calling for an immediate lifting of the “lockdown” there to allow virus containment measures.

Government sources criticised Pakistan, saying it attempted to “politicise” a humanitarian issue by an “unwarranted” statement on Kashmir during the video-conference and that it reflected “very poorly” on it.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) appealed to the Centre to ensure that more testing centres were made available on a war footing to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far infected 114 people in the country and over one lakh globally.

Yechury also criticised the BJP-led Centre’s move to withdraw its letter permitting utilisation of state disaster response funds for dealing with the virus, saying it should be “reversed immediately”.

“The Government of India must assist all states in ensuring that infrastructure is put in place immediately to contain this pandemic. The allocations for health must be substantially increased to ensure that a proper healthcare system is put in place in the country.

“In this context, the politburo denounces the fact that the central government, having issued orders to the states permitting the utilisation of state disaster response funds for dealing with this pandemic, has within hours issued a ‘partial modification’ by which the compensation to families who have lost a member to this virus and for treatment of positive cases has been withdrawn. This has to be reversed immediately,” the CPI(M) general secretary said.

“It is unfortunate that instead of providing more relief, the Centre has amended its orders. This must be reversed right away and lives saved. The Centre must ensure that it provides all support to the states and the people of India to fight the coronavirus,” he added.

Briefing the media on the issues discussed at the CPI(M) politburo meeting held over the weekend, Yechury said the politburo called upon all party units and cadres to create awareness and a scientific temper among people for taking the required precautions to ensure the containment of the pandemic.

“The central and state governments must combat the spread of unscientific, obscurantist preventive methods purveyed by many.

“India remains at the bottom of all the affected countries in the world in terms of testing suspected people. More testing centres must be made available on a war footing, where all suspected persons should be tested promptly and consequent action is taken. It is necessary to equip our rural areas with basic public health facilities, which are very inadequate today,” he said.

The CPI(M) leader hailed the efforts of the party-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala, saying it “once again displayed its efficiency for containing the pandemic through its universal public health system, limiting the damage”.

Two people, including a UK national, tested positive for COVID-19 in Kerala on Sunday, taking the total number of affected people in the southern state to 21, as the government launched a “break-the-chain” initiative to prevent the spread of the virus.