Westminster, 6 August 2021 (TDI): In a response to the British Government’s decision to move India to the amber list of travelling and keeping Pakistan in the red list, MP Naz Shah, Yasmin Qureshi and Sarah Owen have questioned such decision considering India’s far serious coronavirus situation.
Both Pakistan and India were placed on UK’s travel restriction lists in April following the surge in the Delta variant. According to MP Naz Shah, the UK’s system of quarantine traffic lights showed “callous behaviour” towards Pakistan in regard to the policy review. Pakistan’s seven-day infection rate is 14 per 100,000 while India’s is 20 per 100,000. In light of this, she also remarked that due to “favoured political choices rather than science” the Delta variant has entered the UK prominently.
MP Yasmin Qureshi highlighted the issue as well and said that political policies for economic benefits are discriminatory. Similarly, Labour MP tweeted that “Decisions taken in isolation with no scrutiny are never good for the people we seek to represent. These decisions have big health [and] personal consequences.”
