[Letter to CM] Opening of Sino-Pak Border Urgently for Chinese Medics

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Dear Chief Minister,

Mr. Hafiz Hafeer-ur-Rahman,I cordially appreciate selfless work of your dedicated team, law enforcement agencies, and especially the health department under your visionary leadership. Since the challenge of Covid-19 is growing with every passing hour and we all need to act wisely.

Unfortunately Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has the highest per Million [1]  Covid-19 confirmed cases (~51/M) [2] among all the provinces while the national average is 4/M [3] . On top of that being remote, GB faces challenges of communication and transportation of essential goods and medical supplies.

However, there is a ray of hope if you could kindly open Cino-Pak border at Khunjarav pass urgently for Chinese medics and request the People’s Republic of China on behalf of the people of GB for the establishment of hospitals and replication of their best practices please. There is no shame to accept that Gilgit-Baltistan’s health care is in shambles, do not meet even the national standards and we only risk our health professionals and the general public if we do not act promptly and wisely. Chinese health professionals are better equipped, have hands on experience to contain Covid-19 and ready to help other nations. As an example, they recently extended their helping hand to Italy.

People of GB are optimistic that all weather friend China would be happy to join your fight against this pandemic at the homes of their nearest neighbors.

Sincerely,
Abdur Rasheed (Fullbright Scholar)
Assistant Professor at Government Degree College, Gilgit