Stuck abroad

There have been conflicting reports about what the government of Pakistan is doing for the Pakistanis stuck abroad. Many of these people are confined at airport terminals and can’t board planes as most airlines have stopped their operations. There has been much confusion within government ranks regarding this. On March 21, overseas Pakistanis were advised against returning to the country owing to the coronavirus pandemic. They were asked not to return to the country for two weeks as the government had announced that Pakistan’s airspace would remain closed for international flights till April 4. Flights had been abruptly suspended, leaving hundreds of Pakistanis in the lurch. Many of them had already come to airports to board flights back home, and did not have anywhere to go. Pakistan embassies also appear to have no clue about what to do. The worst part is that there were hundreds of Pakistanis coming back to the country from Turkey.

Interestingly, on the same day dozens of Pakistanis coming from Qatar were allowed to board and come back. It was announced that this was done after taking precautionary measures. Then on March 28, we were told that the National Coordination Committee (NCC) had decided to close eastern and western borders both for trade and passenger traffic for two more weeks. We know that earlier the prime minister had instructed that trade with Afghanistan would continue through the Chaman border in Balochistan. Then on March 29, we were told that there were no Pakistani passengers in transit at any airports of the world and all such passengers were either airlifted to Pakistan or their visas were extended in their respective countries. It was further clarified that all Pakistanis stranded in Thailand were brought back to the country and their corona tests were negative. The government also declined to confirm whether air operations would resume on April 5. As if all this confusion was not enough, on March 30, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi reportedly said in a meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Pakistanis stranded abroad would be brought back in phases.

Now according to confirmed reports there are at least 200 Pakistanis stuck in Istanbul, Turkey. Something needs to be one for them on an urgent basis, as most of them are students without any money to support themselves. Of course, certain precautionary measures are needed as was done with the passengers returning from Qatar and Thailand. The government should send a special plane to bring them back and then keep them in quarantine for at least two weeks. Alternatively, the Pakistan embassy in Ankara must do something to help them. You can’t just let stranded citizens of Pakistan get stuck in a foreign country without any help. If passengers from Qatar and Turkey could be airlifted even after the closure of airspace, our citizens in Turkey should also have been repatriated. The Pakistan embassy in Pakistan should be instructed to provide special financial support to these Pakistanis so that as long as they are not brought back, at least they have some way to support themselves.