Pakistani top minister hits out against UK government decision
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Asad Umar, the Federal Minister for Planning, slammed the UK for putting Pakistan on its “red list,”.
In a tweet, Umar said, “Every country has the right to take decisions to safeguard the health of its people.”
Source: link
The minister said that Britain’s recent decision to add several countries to the “red list,” like Pakistan, owing to rising coronavirus cases poses the “legitimate question whether choice of countries is based on science or foreign policy”. British High Commissioner to Pakistan Christian Turner declared on Friday that Pakistan has been added to the UK’s red list of travel ban countries.
Only UK and Irish citizens, as well as those with UK citizenship privileges, would be able to return to the UK if they have spent the previous 10 days in Pakistan,” Turner said in a video message posted on Twitter.
Passengers travelling to the UK from Pakistan would be required to pay for a necessary quarantine stay at a hotel in the UK, according to the commissioner.
The steps would take effect at 4:00 a.m. on April 9. Direct flights between the two countries will begin to run as usual, according to the commissioner.
Earlier a high-level delegation was scheduled to visit London in this regard, according to the source, but the trip was cancelled on Wednesday evening after British High Commission officials met with senior Pakistani officials and expressed the UK government’s stance.
Thousands of people have travelled from the UK to Pakistan in recent months as the UK has been put under a second state of emergency. Many of them are already on prolonged stay in the region.
