By Special CorrespondentĀ
New Delhi, 18 March : A lot of civil society members, journalists and public intellectuals have asked protestors in Shaheen Bagh to vacate the place for fear of being susceptible to the Coronavirus.
Though the concerns are fair but the criminal silence of the same group over the plight of Delhi pogrom victims living in relief camps who face worse conditions and are more vulnerable to the virus reveals the hypocrisy.
According to Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PMSF), a non-profit non-affiliated organisation of doctors and scientists, people in relief camps are an āextremely vulnerableā group.
The report compiled by PMSF team comprising Vikas Bajpai, Assistant Professor, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU; Harjit Bhatti, former President Resident Doctorsā Association, AIIMS; Sumitran, a consultant radiologist with a government hospital; and five other doctors from AIIMS, said that the response of medical establishment to Delhi riot victims was āshockingly poor and inadequateā. And now they are in danger of being exposed to Covid-19.
In sharp contrast to self-isolation and quarantine being prescribed, the riot victims are living in close proximity without testing facility. The biggest camp is in Idgah, Mustafabad, North-East Delhi, where about 500 victims have been accommodated, there is a second camp of about 50 people near Al Hind hospital while an unaccounted number of victims are bunched together in private homes
“Those who argue Shaheen Bagh HealthĀ Risk
are maintaining criminal silence on the health risk of the victims of Delhi MuslimĀ PogromĀ Victims living in refugee camps in NE Delhi. What double standards they pursue.Ā Shame!, ” said a netizen Navaid Hamid on Twitter.
Those who argue #ShaheenBaghHealthRisk
are maintaining criminal silence on the health risk of the victims of #DelhiMuslimPogromVictims living in refugee camps in NE Delhi. What double standards they pursue Shame! #coronavirusindia Ā¹https://t.co/iL9hn1qC9C— Navaid Hamid ŁŁŪŲÆ ŲŲ§Ł ŲÆ (@navaidhamid) March 18, 2020
“To those suggesting Shaheen Bagh women see Coronavirus pandemic as “a way out”, perhaps you know nothing about demonstrators. They were never looking for “a way out”. They sat there for a cause. They sat there despite communal riots, lasting 36 hours, in the national capital. Suggest them ways to continue their protest by minimising exposure to the deadly Coronavirus — that if you really care. Oh, by the way, they know what they are doing better than all of us combined. So maybe, we could just keep our mouths shut, ” wrote a journalist Mirza Arif on his social media platform.