Lahore man sues US govt for causing coronavirus spread

A man in Lahore has filed a petition against the United States of America for spreading the novel coronavirus and asked it to pay $20 billion in damages to him.

A civil court has issued notices to the US Embassy for August 7.

The US consulate, embassy in Islamabad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the World Health Organization have been named as respondents.

“The WHO has declared the novel coronavirus to be a pandemic,” said the petitioner, adding that it has affected every country and person.

He alleged that the outbreak was caused by “five unidentified men from the US in Wuhan, China”. The US had sent 17 teams with more than 280 athletes to the Military World Games in October 2019. “For reasons best known to them, those unidentified five persons spread this virus. The WHO has claimed that it found “some traces of the virus in the USA in October 2019,” the petition said.

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It is so unfortunate that “some elements of the US, whenever they are unable to compete with its rivals in various fields, they always tried to use tactics detrimental for others,” the petitioner alleged. “This time nature has tried to use tactics detrimental for others. This time nature has decided to teach them and that is why the US is facing in the worst form of consequences of that fire they tried to light for others.”

The US is “responsible for the colossal death toll, misery and economic distress they inflicted on the world, including but not limited to Pakistan.”

Pakistan is still fighting the USA’s war against terror “which according to some conservative accounts cost us more than $100 billion and we are already struggling with social and economic well-being of our people because of bad governance and inefficient handling of the sole superpower of the world,” he remarked.

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“To make matters worse, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the IMF are forcing our government to increase taxes on its people and businesses,” he said.

“The negative effects of the virus will be wide-ranging from depressed international trade, lower foreign remittances, suppressed GDP growth to the reduction in government’s revenues.”

He went on to say that people in quarantine are unable to meet their loved ones and unable to perform their religious obligations. “Every Pakistani has suffered an economic, emotional and spiritual toll of the coronavirus,” he said.

from Coronavirus – SAMAA https://ift.tt/3eaU5SQ