A letter to our lawmakers who didn't wear masks to the Senate election

Dear Reader, like most people, we love playing games and invite you to play a game of 'I spy' with us today. We'll go first: I spy with my little eye, lawmakers at the Senate election without masks.

Lawmakers gathered in the National Assembly in Islamabad on March 3 to cast their votes and elect new senators. To understand the election and how it works, you can click here, but that's not what we're concerned about. Our esteemed lawmakers seem to have forgotten we're currently in the midst of a global pandemic and coronavirus is still a thing.

Many of these senior citizens (an overwhelming majority of them are over 60) are playing games with their lives and those of their peers. It's all fun and games until someone gets Covid.

Health experts believe a third wave of the virus could hit Pakistan as the country continues to ease restrictions. But one restriction that hasn't been eased yet (thank God) is the requirement of wearing masks in public places. If only someone would tell our esteemed lawmakers that.

From Prime Minister Imran Khan to Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, leaving their masks off seemed to be a bipartisan issue. It's like they had a secret meeting before the election and made a blood pact: all for one and coronavirus for all!

Another fun game: Look at this video posted by the PTI's official account and find someone wearing a mask. One of the few people to cover their faces is Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar, which is fortunate considering how often he comes on TV telling us to follow the government's SOPs.

If only he told his fellow lawmakers that. In the video we can spot Prime Minister Khan, Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh, Federal Science Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak all sans masks.

And lest you accuse us of favouritism, dear Reader, let us remind you that our 'favourites' are only those who wear masks (looking at you Asad Umar and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari).

There were also lawmakers who chose to make a fashion statement with their masks below their noses. But much like pairing black pants and brown shoes, that's a faux pax in our books.

And we weren't the only ones to notice our mask-less MNAs.

Assembly staff had their masks off too.

Dear Reader, we end this note with a question for our respected lawmakers: can they really urge people to be safe and wear a mask when they're not willing to do the same? To them, we say lead with example.