Pakistan to bring back 20,000 expats in next 10 days

Author: News Desk

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf Saturday said around 20,000 overseas Pakistan will be repatriated in the next 10 days from June 1 as the policy has been revised to bring 2,000 passengers per day.

Addressing a joint press conference with SAPM on Health Dr Zafar Mirza here at the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), he said over 33,000 overseas Pakistanis were brought back to the country from 55-60 countries as 1,000 passengers were brought back on a day basis. He said the core focus of the government was to bring back stranded labourers from the gulf countries that were unable to afford the travel expense. Most of the labourers were stuck in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). “Around 8,000 passengers will be brought back from UAE and 4,000 from KSA … all of these passengers have been left unemployed in these states and want to come back to the country,” he said.

The SAPM said a new policy is also in the offing for the overseas Pakistanis which will help resolve the issues faced by them. He noted that Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has completely opened air space for outbound flights where all international airlines will be allowed to take foreigners and outbound passengers abroad.

While briefing on the situation at land borders, the SAPM mentioned that the borders are operating on the same standard operating procedures (SOPs) where borders with China and India were closed. He said around 180 Pakistanis were repatriated from India on May 27 through the eastern border. The Afghan borders crossings at Torkham and Chaman have requisite arrangements to contain the risk of Covid-19 transmission, he said. “The government has announced to revive trade of sustenance items with Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds where the mechanism has been devised in coordination with the Afghan authorities,” he said, adding that trade trucks are allowed to move for six days for transporting goods from Torkham border and around 250 trucks a day have traveled from this border.