Policy Issues Relating to COVID-19 Discussion Paper October 2020 Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency Policy Issues Relating to COVID-19 Discussion Paper October 2020 Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency PILDAT is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit indigenous research and training institution with the mission to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan. PILDAT is a registered non-profit entity under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860, Pakistan. Copyright © Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency - PILDAT All Rights Reserved Printed in Pakistan Published: October 2020 ISBN: 978-969-558-758-4 Any part of this publication can be used or cited with a clear reference to PILDAT. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency Islamabad Office: P. O. Box 278, F-8, Postal Code: 44220, Islamabad, Pakistan Lahore Office: P. O. Box 11098, L.C.C.H.S, Postal Code: 54792, Lahore, Pakistan E-mail: [email protected] | Website: www.pildat.org Policy Issues Relating to COVID-19 Discussion Paper October 2020 Preface 05 Abbreviations and Acronyms 07 Profile of the Author 09 Executive Summary 11 Introduction 13 Review of Government's Response to COVID-19 - Initial policy confusion and the need for political clarity 15 - NCOC and the need for a hybrid approach 16 - Sindh government and a parallel effort against COVID-19 17 - Weak civilian institutions, their lack of capacity and the need to upgrade them 17 - Negligible role of Parliament, Cabinet and Political Parties and the need for greater 17 input from these forums - Education and the role of Provincial Governments 17 - Weak public service messaging which picked up pace at a later stage and should be 18 synchronized better with policy Impact of COVID-19 on Key Policy Issues 19 - Education 19 - Economy 20 Key Weaknesses in Political Parties' Role 20 Recommendations 23 - Political Parties' Policy Wings, Women in Politics Support Group and Alumni of 24 Young Politicians Fellowship Programme - What can Political Parties do Now? 26 List of Figures Figure 1: Daily COVID-19 Cases and Deaths 13 Figure 2: COVID-19: Timeline of Key Decisions 14 Figure 3: Timeline of Management of COVID-19 15 Figure 4: Geographical Breakup of COVID-19 Cases in Pakistan 16 Appendix A: Policy Template 27 Policy Issues Relating to COVID-19 Discussion Paper October 2020 PREFACEACE The Discussion Paper titled Policy Issues relating to COVID-19 and Need for Policy Formulation by Political Parties has been commissioned by PILDAT to facilitate informed understanding of the management of COVID-19 and its related policy issues in Pakistan. Authored by Mr. Fahd Husain, renowned journalist and currently Resident Editor Islamabad of Dawn newspaper, the paper is written as an effort to frame key issues and policy questions relating to COVID-19 so that the policy wings of Political Parties, Women in Politics Support Group (WPSG) and Alumni of Young Politicians Fellowship Programme (YPFP) are able to focus on policy questions and find answers to these questions within the context and structures of their respective political parties. The paper is also developed as an effort to assist political parties on responding to COVID-19 grassroot policy issues. The paper also includes a draft template for writing a simple Policy Document that each Political Party can utilize to gauge response of its supporters in line with its ideology, manifesto and overall policies. The discussion paper has been produced under the project titled Consolidating Democracy in Pakistan under COVID- 19. Disclaimer Data and views contained in this paper belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and perspective of PILDAT. October 2020 5 Policy Issues Relating to COVID-19 Discussion Paper October 2020 Abbreviations and Acronyms AJ&K Azad Jammu and Kashmir ASER Annual Status of Education Report COS Chief of Staff COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus GB Gilgit-Baltistan GDP Gross Domestic Product ICT Islamabad Capital Territory IMF International Monetary Fund ISI Inter-Services Intelligence ISPR Inter Services Public Relations KP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MI Military Intelligence MO Military Operations NADRA National Database and Registration Authority NCC National Coordination Committee NCOC National Command and Operation Centre NDMA National Disaster Management Authority NSC National Security Committee PPP Pakistan Peoples' Party PTI Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf SAPM Special Assistant to Prime Minister SoPs Standard Operation Procedures WPSG Women in Politics Support Group YPFP Young Politicians Fellowship Programme 7 Policy Issues Relating to COVID-19 Discussion Paper October 2020 ABOUT THE THE AUTHOR AUTHOR Mr. Fahd Husain Resident Editor, Islamabad for Dawn Mr. Fahd Husain has 29 years of journalism experience working in newspapers and television both in Pakistan and abroad. During this time, he has been a newspaper reporter, Editor, columnist, TV anchor and News Director. He has also spearheaded the launch of three news channels. At present, Mr. Fahd Husain is the Resident Editor, Islamabad for Dawn newspaper. He also writes a twice weekly column for Dawn. He is also a TV anchor and hosts a weekend prime time show for Dawn News TV. Before joining Dawn in October 2019, Mr. Husain worked as Executive Director News at Express News TV as well as Executive Editor of Daily The Express Tribune, a leading English newspaper and wrote a weekly column. Mr. Fahd Husain began his career as a journalist at The Daily Muslim newspaper in 1991. He later worked as a political reporter and Editor of the Islamabad edition of The Nation newspaper. He also served as Associate Editor and columnist for the Dubai-based Gulf News and subsequently as the Editor of The News, a major English newspaper. In 2002, Mr. Husain spent a year working as a producer with the leading American TV channel CBS News in New York where he was a member of the newsroom team that managed the coverage of the United States' war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Private channels launched in Pakistan in 2002 and Mr. Husain returned from the United States in 2003 and became the anchor of Pakistan's first independent English talk show on Geo TV. Starting in 2006, as Director News he designed the entire setup for Express News channel, and established the channel as a leading news network. He also served as Director News of Express 24/7, which was, at one point, Pakistan's only 24- hour English news network. Later he also served as Executive Director News at Dunya TV. In 2013 he spearheaded the launch of Capital TV as Chief Operating Officer and Editorial head. Mr. Fahd Husain has also hosted prime time talk shows on Express News, ARY News TV, and Waqt News TV. His international assignments include covering the US Presidential Elections in 2004 and travelling to Lebanon to cover the Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006. Mr. Husain obtained his Bachelor's degree from the Ohio Wesleyan University USA. He has a Master's degree in Television Journalism from the Columbia University in New York, USA, where he became the first Pakistani to graduate at the top of his class and was awarded both the Pulitzer Travelling Fellowship and the Jack R. Howard Scholarship. Mr. Fahd Husain is a regular guest lecturer at prestigious institutions and forums including Command & Staff College Quetta, School of Infantry & Tactics Quetta, National Security Workshop Balochistan, PAF Air War College Karachi, Navy War College Lahore, Civil Services Academy Lahore, National Institute Management Lahore & Islamabad as well as national universities and colleges. 9 Policy Issues Relating to COVID-19 Discussion Paper October 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMAR SUMMARY Y As Pakistan braces for a possible second wave of COVID-19, key lessons learnt can help governments, political parties and citizens to better grapple with the pandemic challenge. Compared to many other countries, Pakistan's policies have seen encouraging results since the first patient was diagnosed with the virus in the last week of February 2020. After a rapid spread of the infection from March till June 2020, the curve began to flatten after peaking in the third week of June. Since then the number of cases and deaths have decreased sharply. Something has clearly worked in Pakistan's favour. The Federal and Provincial governments had got off to a slow start in March but official efforts picked up pace after Prime Minister Imran Khan constituted the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) with the aim of bringing all relevant institutions, resources and manpower under one roof to fight the rising threat of COVID-19. The Federal Government has instituted policies by trial and error and learnt from earlier mistakes. Consequently, policies like smart lockdowns produced good results. Some key takeaways from the response include: 1. There was initial policy confusion and therefore need for early political clarity is important 2. NCOC and the need for a hybrid approach illustrates the benefits of inter-institutional coordination and apolitical decision-making based on data and hard information 3. Sindh government and a parallel effort against COVID-19 shows a greater need for inter-provincial coordination and the crucial role of the Federal government in carrying the provinces along 4. COVID-19 has exposed many aspects of our weak civilian institutions, their lack of capacity and the dire need to upgrade them 5. COVID-19 has highlighted the negligible role of Parliament, cabinet and political parties in this public health crisis and the need for greater input from these forums 6. Education and the role of Provincial governments has shown the advantages of good centre-province coordination and decision-making through consultation and consensus 7. The initial policy confusion reflected in weak public service messaging which picked up pace at a later stage and should be synchronized better with policy for future reference Impact on Education & Economy The two sectors in Pakistan impacted the most by COVID-19 are education and economy.