RAWALPINDI, APR 26 – Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar said that Pakistan Army troops have reached every corner of the country from 6am today (Monday) morning to help civil institutions in implementing the standard operating procedures (SOPs) against the coronavirus.

Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, he said teams had been constituted which would be led by brigadiers at the administrative division level and by lieutenant colonels at the district level.

The provincial apex committees would hold weekly meetings to discuss the overall situation and analyse areas with high positivity rates after which a plan of action would be decided, the DG ISPR said.

“The primary purpose of deployment of army troops is to help civil institutions and law enforcement agencies,” he said, adding that like the last time, Pakistan Army had decided not to claim any sort of internal security allowance during the deployment.

“In this testing time, Pakistan Army will use all its capabilities to take every possible step for the protection of citizens and their lives. [We] will go to every corner of Pakistan to ensure the protection of citizens.”

Gen Iftikhar said the primary responsibility for the implementation of precautionary measures against the coronavirus and the law and order situation lay with the civil institutions. The Pakistan Army would fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies as emergency responders to control the spread of the pandemic, he added.

The DG ISPR said that enhanced deployment had been done in 16 cities where the positivity rate was “very high”. These cities include Islamabad; Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda and Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur and Gujranwala in Punjab; Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh; Quetta in Balochistan and Muzaffarabad in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

He stressed that following precautionary measures against the coronavirus was the “only effective response” to the pandemic.