Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Corona Relief Tiger Force has been a centre of controversy since its inception, and different opposition parties have rejected its formation alleging that it will be used for political purposes.
The opposition said that in the presence of the police and the already active Rangers, this step was mere political gimmickry, therefore, the nation’s money and resources must not be wasted on this.
Let’s took an in-depth review of the various functions of the Corona Relief Tiger Force and figure out that if the Corona Relief Tiger Force can be a means of strengthening the political credibility of the PTI or not?
Tiger Force’s formation and functions
In March 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan in a televised address to the nation announced the ‘Corona Relief Tiger Force’ in a bid to assist the government in its coronavirus response.
According to the Prime Minister, the Tiger Force will distribute food and other necessities among the downtrodden people. The main duties of Tiger Force are to facilitate the functioning of utility stores, implement SOPs at mosques, help in the management of isolation and quarantine centres, identify hoarders, profiteers and the deserving people in their locality and distribution of ration.
Later, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the government required the volunteer’s help on two more fronts apart from the virus; climate change and locusts.
A few days earlier, the Prime Minister directed the Tiger Force to regularly keep a check on prices of food commodities, including daal, atta, sugar, ghee, in their localities and post them on the Tiger Force portal, which sparks a controversy.
Opposition’s criticism
The opposition and legal experts were already questioning the working of the volunteers of Corona Relief Tiger Force without having any legal cover. Earlier, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif was the most vocal opposing the task force, calling it a political stunt.
Senator Sherry Rehman said that the decision to use the force to check food prices in the country was a recipe for rampant abuse. “Why in the existence of a full government including deputy commissioners is the government asking a politically tagged force to monitor and check prices of food and other items,” she questioned.
PPP Senator Raza Rabbani termed the government decision to utilise services of the CRTF volunteers to check prices a joke and declared it another step towards making the country a fascist state.
“The state apparatus has been put in cold storage and the Tiger Force has been asked to control the prices. This is a joke. Tiger Force has no legal sanction to take any action or act on behalf of the state,” said Mr Rabbani.
He further said that the federal government must realise that Pakistan was not a fascist state where party functionaries and volunteers could act for and on behalf of the state.
Imran Khan and Youth Population
According to a report of United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) 2018, 64 percent of the nation is younger than 30. UNDP has also asserted that the youth population will further increase until at least 2050.
Prime Minister Imran Khan in his election campaign always mentioned the promotion of youth people. In this regard, many supportive programmes were launched by the PTI-led federal government to assist the youth population.
A political gimmickry?
All political parties of Pakistan have student wings across the country but are also using them as a political tool in general elections. It is noteworthy that the opposition’s allegations of the political affiliation of the Corona Relief Tiger Force and the Prime Minister’s political gain cannot be completely justified.
The reason is that the youth across the country have been suffering from unemployment and lockdown. In such a situation, the establishment of the Corona Relief Tiger Force could have been considered a great step, but unfortunately, the government itself failed to adopt the force.
If the Corona Relief Tiger Force is made a formal institution by the government where the minimum travel expenses are paid and even a meagre salary is paid, the country’s youth will be able to do many things that were not possible before.
