Supreme Court of Pakistan Orders the Reopening of Shopping Malls

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has decided to reopen shopping malls and shopping centers for Eid.

The five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court was hearing a suo moto case regarding measures taken against the virus outbreak.

The bench was headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed while Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed were also on the bench.

The court, in its orders, said that shopping malls and markets should remain open seven days a week.

During the hearing today, Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed remarked that if the shops are shut down then shopkeepers will ‘die of hunger rather than the coronavirus’.

“The sealed markets should be opened and instead of intimidating them (shop owners) make them understand (the situation and SOPs),” remarked the top judge.

The CJP noted that the SOPs will be ‘better implemented’ at the big shopping malls.

The Covid-19 respiratory illness caused by this mysterious contagion has so far infected more than 4.7 million people in 202 countries and territories of the world – and over 315,000 of them have died and counting.

The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 42,989 with 15,346 cases in Punjab, 17,241 in Sindh, 6,061 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2,692 in Balochistan, 540 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 997 in Islamabad and 112 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The virus has claimed at least 907 lives while at least 11,922 coronavirus patients have recovered.