Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, has said he will present a strategy and proposals to curb coronavirus outbreak on Tuesday.

He will announce an economic blueprint to deal with the financial and socioeconomic impact of the pandemic and talk to the nation about the role everyone needs to play on the economic, social, political and media fronts.

Chairing a three-hour meeting of key leaders of his party, Shehbaz called for an immediate lockdown nationwide on the pattern of Chinese lockdown and told the party leaders to prepare a strategy to deal with the pandemic in the country.

The PML-N president deliberated on the suggestion of a complete shutdown in the country. During the meeting, Shehbaz set up four teams to prepare suggestions for the economy, health sector, political situation and the media. PML-N representatives from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan were also consulted and the party president directed them to play their role in educating people about the pandemic.

The participants in the meeting said the entire country was suffering because of criminal negligence in the handling of pilgrims returning from Iran. They said nobody would be allowed to play with people’s health. They welcomed Shehbaz Sharif’s return despite party patron Nawaz Shaif’s poor health and said that people of Pakistan had great expectations from him.

The PML-N leadership decided to keep a close eye on the government and its lapses. Shahid Khaqan Abaasi, Pervez Rashid, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Mushahidullah Khan, Barjees Tahir and Mushid Husssain Syed were present in the meeting.

General Abdul Qadir Baloch, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Khurram Dastgir, Miftah Ismail, Sheza Khawaja, Saira Tarrar, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Shaista Pervez, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Azma Bukhari and Imran Nazir also attended the meeting. Khawaja Asif could not attend the meeting due to issues with his telecom network.