LONDON: British lawmakers today (Thursday) slammed their government for retaining Pakistan on the ‘red list’ and for international travel and promoting India to the “amber list” despite the latter’s COVID-19 situation being more serious.
Lawmakers Yasmin Qureshi and Bradford West MP Naz Shah asserted that coronavirus cases in Pakistan were averaging around 4,500 per day, around five times lower than the United Kingdom but in India, cases are at around 40,000 per day.
Chief of the APPG Pakistan Yasmin Qureshi said, “I am dismayed at the government’s decision to keep Pakistan on the travel red list whilst removing other countries in the Middle East and South Asia region.
“Pakistan has no variant of concern reported and has done relatively well compared to India and the UK yet is punished unnecessarily,” she said, adding, “The government opted to remove India now to best prepare them for trade negotiations and is not based on data nor science.”
She said, “Pakistani diaspora totals around 1.1mn in the UK and I have been inundated with correspondence which details students unable to access their courses because of punitive and extortionate quarantine costs.”
Meanwhile, Bradford West MP Naz Shah said she was “surprised” at the move, adding that it was not the first time the UK had exhibited “callous behaviour” in managing its quarantine traffic light system.
My Statement: Pakistan remains on Red List whilst India moves to Amber pic.twitter.com/PLV898tCeo
— Naz Shah MP ???? (@NazShahBfd) August 4, 2021
“The last time this government favoured political choices rather than science and risked our nation’s Covid efforts, it failed to place India on the red list,” she said. Terming the decision “unacceptable”, she vowed to raise the issue further.
Labour MP for Luton North, Sawah Owen, also said it was difficult to understand the reasoning behind the latest changes. “When you see figures like this, Tory ministers have a lot of explaining to do as to why India is going amber yet Pakistan and other countries remain red,” she said.
“Decisions taken in isolation with no scrutiny are never good for the people we seek to represent. These decisions have big health [and] personal consequences,” she tweeted.
Decisions taken in isolation with no scrutiny are never good for the people we seek to represent.
These decisions have big health/personal consequences.
Many people don’t want to holiday, it’s to see family they’ve not seen for over a year or say goodbye to loved ones. 2/2
— Sarah Owen MP (@SarahOwen_) August 4, 2021
Pakistan was placed on the red list in early April and India followed on April 19 due to surging case numbers and the emergence of the Delta variant.
In an update to the travel listings issued by the British government, India along with Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE will be moved to the amber list from August 8 (Sunday).
