Prime minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that the government would continue its strategy of smart lockdown instead of going for imposing blanket lockdown to protect economy and employment of the people.

The premier expressed these views while answering the public's questions via telephone.

The premier began the session by thanking the people of Pakistan for cooperating with the government over the first three waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, and urged them to again adhere to the SOPs to curb the spread of the ongoing fourth wave as it contains Indian variant of COVID-19 virus, which is very lethal as it spreads at a fast pace.

He said that the World Economic Forum had ranked Pakistan as the third country in the world which had taken timely steps to save lives of its people and its economy.

Imran Khan underlined that to cope with the emerging situation of Delta spread, vaccination was the only solution.

Regarding Sindh government’s decision of complete lockdown, the prime minister expressed the hope that the provincial government would fully consider its implications over the weaker segments of society especially the daily earners.

He said enforcing lockdown was a good decision as it would reduce its spread but the issue which should be considered whether such a decision could save the country, its people and economy. "Then there is the issue of hunger ... the daily wage earners and especially the poor section of our society ... how will they make ends meet during the lockdown?

The prime minister said there was rule of law in the prosperous countries. “Corruption at the low level did not bankrupt a country, it has always been the ruling elite that ruined the countries through their teeming corruption,” he added.

He said in order to save their skins, the corrupt junta would first weaken the anti-graft bodies, resulting in the destruction of a country.

He said there would be no two separate sets of laws for the powerful and for the poor.

The prime minister asked the people to fully cooperate with the government in this regard as they wanted to make the people free from the clutches of injustices.

He said that leaders who are scared of free media are the ones who are either corrupt or have something to hide.

"If I had apartments in London or had been involved in corrupt activities, I would have been scared of a free media too," he said.