The British government has claimed that the Pakistan authorities did not send them the Covid-19 data on vaccination and testing, which likely explains why Pakistan is still on the United Kingdom (UK) travel ban Red List while India and several other countries have been removed from the ban list and moved to the Amber category, Murtaza Ali Shah reports for The News.
Social media users, Pakistani and some UK officials also criticised the UK’s decision to not move Pakistan from the Red List to the Amber List but it has now come to light that the Pakistan government’s National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) did not share the data of vaccination and testing with the UK authorities.
The Pakistani government officials have claimed that the UK authorities did not ask them for any data; that the Pakistan government has been sharing data with the British High Commission in Islamabad. The data was accessible on the NCOC’s Twitter and the UK government could have easily checked it before making and announcing a decision on the latest removals and retention of the travel list.
Several British Pakistani MPs wrote objection letters after it was announced that Pakistan would stay on the Red List while India was taken off the list despite worse Covid-19 situation.
One British Pakistani spoke to a senior UK government minister who told the MP that Pakistan had failed to provide data to the UK government. There was no lobbying effort from the Pakistani government, which was why Pakistan remained on the Red List. Both the MP and the senior government minister wanted to be anonymous.
On Friday, NCOC head Asad Umar, and SAPM National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan conducted a virtual meeting with Pakistani-origin Labour MPs Khalid Mahmood, Muhammad Yasin, Tahir Ali, Afzal Khan, Lord Wajid Khan, Imran Hussain, Yasim Qureshi, Pakistan High Commissioner Moazzam Ali Khan, Naz Shah and Dr Rosena Khan.
Five MPs, who spoke to Geo and The News, confirmed that the subject was discussed during the meeting whether Islamabad had given data to London or not – after two MPs asked the same question to Pakistani ministers. The MPs told Pakistan officials what the UK government had told them about not sharing the data.
According to the MPs, Asad Umar told them that the data was publicly available on the NCOC forums including Twitter and Youtube and the UK authorities could have got it. According to one MP, Faisal Sultan said that he had not spoken to British High Commissioner Christian Turner in “4-5 weeks”.
The MPs said they asked Pakistani ministers and Pakistan High Commission diplomats what efforts had they made to engage with the UK government through the Foreign Office and the High Commission to get Pakistan off the list. The MPs said Pakistani officials had no response.
The Pakistan High Commission said on Friday that the Pakistani envoy met PM Boris Johnson at Sandhurst Academy and highlighted the issue of Red List.
During their meeting with Asad Umar and Faisal Sultan, the MPs said that the UK government believed that Pakistan was performing lower in areas over positivity rate, percentage of genomic testing, and types of viruses, vaccination rates and testing.
In comparison, other countries fared well and came off the Red List. One MP told the Pakistani officials that Pakistan had conducted under 300 genomics tests in the whole year while some countries were conducting 2,500 genomics tests a month.
At the end of the meeting, Asad Umar tweeted: “Had a session with some UK MP’s regarding the continuation of Pakistan on the red list. Shared data regarding Covid disease surveillance and explained Pak strategy for Covid response. Will engage with the UK govt to ensure that red list decisions are based on science not politics.”
One MP said that at the end of the meeting, Asad Umar shared with them the information sheets that were required. “It’s clear looking at these sheets that Pakistan has up-to-date data but I feel Pakistan authorities should have shared the same with the UK government and run effective lobbying. The UK MPs have been raising their voice because they are under pressure from their constituents but it’s the government’s responsibility to have engaged with the UK government,” said the MP.
