A busy street Monday in Karachi, where officials said they would obey an order to reopen stores but still worried about the pandemic’s spread.
Photo: asif hassan/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that all stores and shopping malls can open immediately, overturning government-mandated closings of businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus as justices weighed in on the global debate over how to revive economic activity during the pandemic.
Pakistan, a poor country of 220 million people, has seen that debate intensify in recent weeks as identified cases of the disease have climbed steadily despite a lockdown on nonessential business activity and tight restrictions on movement.
The country’s leading association of doctors has pleaded with authorities to maintain restrictions that provincial governments have imposed to try to slow the spread of the virus. Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has criticized such restrictions from the start as too economically harmful in such a poor nation, has advocated a gradual easing, which provinces have largely gone along with.
The court stepped into the fray on its own initiative on Monday, ruling that all legal businesses had a right to operate. In an interim order, the court said that large-scale shopping malls must be allowed to open immediately. It also ordered that shops be allowed to open every day of the week.
“If the businesses and industries remain closed for a long time, their revival becomes doubtful, more and more, and in case they are not revived, millions of workers will be on streets,” the Supreme Court said in a written order issued after the hearing.
The chief justice added during the proceedings that the government cannot deny shoppers who want to purchase new clothes ahead of the important Muslim festival of Eid later this month.
A barber shop in Peshawar on Monday. Pakistan has identified more than 42,000 cases of coronavirus.
Photo: Muhammad Sajjad/Associated PressOfficials in the southern province of Sindh, which includes the country’s biggest city, Karachi, and is controlled by a political party opposed to Mr. Khan’s, expressed shock at the court ruling but said they would go along with it.
“Today we are being reprimanded for not opening shopping malls and bazaars,” said Saeed Ghani, an official in the Sindh provincial government. “Tomorrow they will reprimand us for a shortage of hospital beds and doctors.”
Mr. Khan’s government agreed with the provinces after negotiations that some businesses and retailers could reopen last week. But shops were to remain closed two days a week while malls would remain entirely closed. The court removed those restrictions.
The court also criticized the government, which has announced a $8 billion economic support package to deal with disease, for putting too much weight on combating the coronavirus.
“There are other serious ailments prevailing in the country, from which people are dying daily,” it said, stating that the disease has not impacted Pakistan as hard as in other countries.
Pakistan has identified more than 42,000 cases of coronavirus, with the total growing by about 2,000 cases a day recently. It has reported 900 deaths from the disease. Along with many other developing countries, the virus reached Pakistan later than elsewhere in the world. Health officials say that may mean the country has yet to see the peak of the epidemic, which could still rival damage in other hard-hit nations.
A woman shopped in Islamabad on Monday. The poor country is ill-equipped to face a surge of coronavirus cases.
Photo: sohail shahzad/EPA/ShutterstockStill, health experts say Pakistan and other developing nations have fewer serious cases of the disease and lower death tolls due to their relatively young populations. Younger age groups have fewer serious cases and deaths.
The experts warn that the danger of spiraling cases remains, while the hospitals of developing countries like Pakistan are poorly equipped to deal with a surge of serious cases.
While cautioning the population that they should maintain social distancing where possible, Mr. Khan’s government said its looser stance was vindicated by the court.
“Imran Khan has been worried that more people will die of hunger than coronavirus,” said Shibli Faraz, the Information Minister.
— Waqar Gillani in Islamabad contributed to this article.
Write to Saeed Shah at saeed.shah@wsj.com
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