Imran Khan's Ramzan greeting begins by berating Pakistan, ends with praising China

As Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wished Muslims all across the world on Ramazan, he confessed that total lockdown in his country was imposed without thinking about consequences for the daily wage earners, street vendors, and labourers. Taking to Twitter, Imran Khan said that the holy month is to ask Allah 'for forgiveness for neglecting the poor and vulnerable in our society.' He said that his nation has been elite-centric in its policies and went on to praise China for lifting 700 million people out of poverty.

"When we sought a total lockdown without thinking about the consequences for the daily wage earners, the street vendors, the labourers, all of whom face poverty & hunger for themselves & their families. May Allah forgive us our sin of neglecting our dispossessed & poor citizens," he wrote. 

'They were abiding': Imran Khan's rival Bhutto says Pak PM blundered Ramzan Covid lockdown

As Imran Khan praised China, netizens were quick to point the error out and criticised the Pakistan PM for not uttering a word against China's oppression of Uyghurs Muslims in Xinjiang.

Imran Khan tests negative

In a significant development on Wednesday,  Imran Khan tested negative for the novel coronavirus. This comes a day after it emerged that Faisal Edhi with whom Khan had interacted on April 15 had been confirmed as a positive COVID-19 patient. Khan's test report was confirmed by Dr.Zafar Mirza, the Special Assistant to the Pakistan PM on Health. Earlier, reports indicated that Imran Khan's family members also tested negative for the novel Coronavirus. 

Faisal Edhi had presented a cheque worth 1 crore Pakistani rupees to Khan in Islamabad in his capacity as the head of the Edhi Foundation, which is the country's largest charity foundation. Reportedly, he developed COVID-19 symptoms soon after visiting Islamabad. Though these symptoms subsided after 4 days, he insisted on getting tested as he had been on the ground working with novel Coronavirus patients. Currently, he is in isolation at a hospital in Islamabad.

 Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan tests negative for the novel Coronavirus

COVID-19 crisis in Pakistan

Imran Khan has been panned by the opposition for his inconsistent stance on the enforcement of a lockdown. In March, he ruled out the possibility of imposing a lockdown in Pakistan. Acknowledging Pakistan’s dire economic condition, Khan stated his government did not have the capacity to take care of 25% of the population which is under the poverty line if a lockdown was implemented.

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However, the Pakistan government later imposed a lockdown and extended it till April 30. Presently, there are 11,940 confirmed novel Coronavirus cases in Pakistan out of which 2,337 persons have recovered while 253 deaths have been recorded. With 4,706 COVID-19 cases, the Punjab province has recorded the most number of cases in Pakistan. 

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