Daily Times

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday that over 1,000 Pakistanis had been safely evacuated from the conflict-torn country, adding that “evacuation operations out of the war-torn country have ended.”

While its operations in Sudan had ended, the FO stated in a brief statement that evacuations through Jeddah would continue until all Pakistanis were safely returned.

The ministry thanked China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the statement for their assistance in the evacuation process.

“By Allah’s grace and tireless efforts of our embassy in Khartoum led by Amb Regi, supported by Saudi Arab and China and our teams in Jeddah and Islamabad, we have successfully [and] safely evacuated over 1,000 Pakistanis out of Sudan. With this, our evacuation operations out of Sudan have ended,” the FO tweeted.

The ministry announced yesterday that nearly all 1,000 Pakistanis would be evacuated from the conflict-torn country within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Since the conflict began earlier this month, the FO has been working to repatriate Pakistanis who have become stranded in the war zone.

The Pakistanis in Sudan are being evacuated to Port Sudan before being transferred to Jeddah, where the Pakistan Air Force is bringing them home.

Yesterday, the foreign ministry took to Twitter to thank Saudi Arabia for their assistance and support to Pakistanis in need.

What’s happening in Sudan?

Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

So far, over 500 people have been killed in the clashes.

Daglo’s RSF arose from the Janjaweed fighters unleashed in Darfur by former strongman Omar al-Bashir, who was accused of war crimes including genocide.

Following widespread citizen protests, the military deposed Bashir in April 2019.

The two generals took power in a coup in 2021, but they later clashed in a bitter power struggle, most recently over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.