Pakistan closes western borders; cancels March 23 parade

ISLAMABAD: The National Security Committee (NSC) on Friday decided to take a number of steps to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country.

This includes closing the Western borders with Iran and Afghanistan for trade and passengers, and canceling the annual Pakistan Day parade on March 23.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, was attended by top civil and military leadership including Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lt-General Faiz Hameed apart from chief ministers, top advisers and cabinet ministers.

The meeting decided that Pakistan’s border entry points with Afghanistan and Iran will be closed for two weeks beginning March 16, the interior ministry announced. The ministry issued a notification directing multiple inspector generals of Frontier Corps in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to close the border. The decision of opening borders will be reviewed after two weeks.

During the meeting, it was decided that only three airports in the country — Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore — will be allowed to operate international flights in limited numbers, while other airports will only allow domestic flights.

The pilgrims who have returned to the country from Iran will be screened again and will be placed under quarantine if they test positive for the virus. All large political, religious, and social gatherings will be also be banned.

The meeting also decided to keep all educational institutions in the country closed till April 5 as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.

Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood announced on Twitter. “This includes all schools and universities, public and private, vocational institutions and madaris,” he said, adding that the situation would be reviewed by the Ministry of Education on March 27 to devise the future course of action.

Provincial governments in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have already announced to keep all educational institutions closed to contain the spread of the contagious disease.

Earlier KP government announced that all schools, colleges and universities will remain closed for 15 days in the province. The Balochistan government has already announced the extension in the closure of educational institutions till March 31.

A day earlier, the Sindh government had decided that educational institutions would remain closed until May 30. The examination for the grade 9 and 10 scheduled for March 16 have been postponed.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the COVID-1 outbreak a pandemic. Pakistan has 21 cases so far including 15 in Karachi. The federal government has established 35 isolation wards all over the country.