Abdul Basit
Syed Zulfi Bukhari, special assistant to Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan for Overseas Pakistanis, has confirmed that repatriation process of overseas Pakistanis from the UAE will start on April 18, 2020.
“There will be a flight on April 18 (from the UAE) and then we will design a flight schedule. The flights will be in good numbers. People on transit visa, those who have their visas expired and people rendered redundant will be given priority to come back to Pakistan from the UAE,” Bukhari said in an Urdu video message addressing particularly to overseas Pakistanis in UAE.
He informed, “Pakistan has the capacity to bring back only 2,000 people a week and there are people stranded in other countries, including Oman, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and many other countries. Today, I have received permission to increase this number to 8,000 and a lot of its focus will be on repatriating people from the UAE. With the help of the UAE Government, we will use the UAE’s carriers and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to bring back stranded Pakistanis.”
Mr. Bukhari, in the video message, asked those Pakistanis who have a home and can stay in the UAE to stay back as Pakistan cannot repatriate all the people at this critical time due to the coronavirus outbreak in Pakistan.
Bukhari said he was personally evaluating the situation in the UAE and aware of the challenges faced by Pakistanis there. “I am in constant contact with the community welfare attaché and our Embassy to get an update on ration delivery to our people who cannot go out due to restrictions in Dubai.”
Currently, over 25,000 Pakistanis in the UAE have expressed their desire to return home. On Tuesday, 400 Pakistani prisoners were repatriated in two flydubai flights to Faisalabad and Islamabad.
“I urge people who can stay (back in UAE), better stay there. I know you will be missing Pakistan but I suggest that you stay there because Pakistan’s capacity is not big enough to bring back all of them,” concluded the message.
Flight schedule and more details will be announced as soon as the government and the airlines finalise the arrangements. Regular flight operation in Pakistan will remain suspended until April 21.
Shahid Ali Moghal, PIA’s Regional Manager in UAE, confirmed that the Pakistan’s national carrier would started limited flight operation to the UAE from April 18. “Initially, the special PIA flights will be operated from Dubai to Islamabad but later it will start landing at other airports including Lahore and Karachi as soon as quarantine facilities are ready,” he added.
The special assistant urged the overseas Pakistanis to contact his ministry on its social media accounts in case of a complaint. Their complaint would be addressed at the earliest, he promised. – abdulbasit@theuaenews.com
