Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged Canada to reconsider the flight suspension ban on Pakistan. The foreign minister made this request during the telephonic conversation with his Canadian Counterpart Marc Garneau on Tuesday. Matters pertaining to Covid-19 pandemic, bilateral ties and regional situation were discussed during the call.
Qureshi said that Pakistan and Canada historically enjoy cordial relationship and underlined the need for enhancing the bilateral relations in political, economic, security and cultural fields for mutual benefit of the two countries.
He apprised the Canadian foreign minister of the effective measures taken by Pakistan to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the lives and livelihoods of the people and urged that the Canadian government may reconsider its decision of suspending flights from Pakistan.
The Canadian foreign minister briefed the foreign minister on the decision by the Canadian government to suspend flights to and from Pakistan in the wake of an upsurge in Covid-19 cases in Canada.
Earlier on Thursday last, Canada banned all passenger flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days due to the growing wave of Covid-19 cases in that region, Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said.
“Given the higher number of cases of Covid-19 detected in air passengers arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan … I am suspending all commercial and private passenger flights arriving in Canada from Indian and Pakistan for 30 days,” Alghabra told a news conference on Thursday. The measure went into effect at 11:30pm Eastern Time on Thursday (03:30 GMT on Friday). It will not apply to cargo flights, Alghabra said, particularly to ensure the continued shipment of vaccines, personal protective equipment and other essential goods. More than 100,000 Canadians have Pakistani ancestry.