DC Islamabad personally makes sure civil servants enter Pakistan Secretariat with masks
October 30, 2020
Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat on Thursday personally ensured that all civil servants entering the Pakistan Secretariat — the headquarters of the federal government and the cabinet — wear masks and follow Section 144 imposed in the federal capital.
“The Law is applicable to both public and public servants equally,” said Shafqaat as he shared a video of him checking civil servants entering the Pakistan secretariat.
The DC said that the public servants were checked at the entry and “no one was allowed to enter without masks”.
The DC also visited a Metro Bus station in Islamabad to check whether standard operating procedures were being followed or not.
During the visit, he advised passengers to maintain distance among themselves as they sit in the Metro Bus, as it is becoming one of the sources for the rise in coronavirus cases in the federal capital.
Anyone not wearing a mask can be arrested: DC
On Wednesday, DC Shafqaat had given a warning to the capital's citizens, saying that anyone found not wearing a mask in public places "can be arrested by police" under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedures Code (CrPC).
A district magistrate's notification, shared with the tweet by Shafqaat, stated that in exercise of powers conferred on him under Section 144, he is ordering the use of face masks or covers by the general public while visiting public places in the Islamabad Capital Territory to guard against the spread of coronavirus.
He said that the order comes into effect immediately and will remain in force for a period of two months.
Read more: Wearing masks made mandatory in Karachi District Central
It comes on the back of advice by epidemiologists of the COVID Nerve Centre and aims to prevent community spread.
"Given the rising positivity of COVID-19 cases it becomes essential that the general public" abide by these rules, said the notification.
The National Command and Operation Centre has already declared the use of masks by all citizens as mandatory as number of coronavirus cases increase in the country.
