The Senate Committee of Interior Chairperson, and former Interior Minister, Rehman Malik has written a letter to the United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres. Malik has demanded investigations into the identity of the ‘Zero Patient’ of Coronavirus under the Biological Weapons Convention 1975.
The original letter, written on April 3, had been making the rounds on social media, with many questioning its authenticity. Malik confirmed its authenticity on his official Twitter handle, with the official United Nations website also acknowledging it under the ‘Pakistan Updates’ header.
Rehman Malik has been especially busy these days with his activities on traditional and social media. He has been writing columns for The Nation and Nawa-e-Waqt covering a wide span on topics ranging from bio-warfare to Dawat-e-Shiraz.
As the chair of the Senate Committee on Interior he has been calling for united action against the spread of Covid-19 in the country, and around the world as well. In Pakistan, he has been calling for political parties to unite amidst the pandemic. He has also conducted live press conference centering around the subject of Covid-19.
A lot of Malik’s focus has also been dedicated to the plight of those suffering in the prolonged lockdown in Indian-held Kashmir. He has repeatedly urged the UN to take note of the abuses and intervene.
Even so, most of Malik’s work right now is dedicated to tracing the origins of Covid-19. In this regard he has requested the UN to form a high-powered commission featuring virologists, scientists and other experts in order to find out the truth about the roots of the pandemic.
The letter maintains the since the Covid-19 outbreak speculation surrounding the disease have been rife and have paved the way for fake news as well. Malik wrote that amidst the uncertainty finding the truth can help calm the masses down. And in this regard he has been doing his own research as well.
“I went into my deep study into UNO papers. You have a biowarfare convention, and global virologists or scientists say that they have [certain] suspicions. Why do [they] have those suspicions? They say the coronavirus originated in China, [whereas] my investigation, with authentic sources, reveals that it went from Honolulu to Japan – a Japanese group had been present in Honolulu. A Japanese report relates coronavirus to Honolulu,” said Malik.
Malik’s letter to the UN with regards to the origins of Covid-19 comes at a time when both China and the US have engaged in blame games. US President Donald Trump had initially been adamant to dub Covid-19 “Chinese virus”, with China reacting strongly to it.
“You must have seen the statements given by [US President] Donald Trump. And then you must have seen the statements given by China’s official spokesperson [of the Foreign Ministry Zhao Lijian]. They have made it a matter of public record. Section 3 and 4 of the [Biological Weapons] Convention clearly states that [in such a case] there should be investigations,” Malik maintained.
Pakistan enjoys crucial strategic relations with both China and the US. Beijing’s record foreign investment, the $62 billion worth China Pakistan Economic Corridor, entered its second phase at the turn of the year, while Islamabad helped facilitate the US in its crucial deal with the Afghan Taliban in February.
After engaging the UN, Malik has now decided to approach other influential figures with regards to his concerns over bio-warfare. He has recently written a letter to Bill Gates.
“Bill Gates said in 2015 that there will come a time when there will be bioterrorism, which can take the shape of an epidemic. However, when he said the same thing in September 2018, he was definite. He said there will be bioterrorism,” Malik said.