ISLAMABAD – The government has decided not to repatriate Pakistani citizensstranded in China in accordance with the recommendations of the WorldHealth Organisation, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr ZafarMirza announced on Thursday.
“We believe that right now, it is in the interest of our loved ones inChina to stay there. It is in the larger interest of the region, world,country that we don’t evacuate them now,” he told reporters at a pressconference in Islamabad.
“This is what the World Health Organisation is saying, this is China’spolicy and this is our policy as well. We stand by China in fullsolidarity,” he declared.
“Right now the government of China has contained this epidemic in Wuhancity. If we act irresponsibly and start evacuating people from there, thisepidemic will spread all over the world like wildfire.”
“So far, China has not allowed evacuation [of people],” he said. “You will,of course, remind me the United States has evacuated its diplomatic staff —not all citizens. This is a condition of the Vienna Convention whichdictates that the host country can allow diplomats to leave if theircountry wishes for them to return.”
Earlier, Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said that thegovernment had complete data of Pakistani students currently in China andwas in touch with Chinese authorities to address any challenges thestudents may be facing.
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Farooqui was addressing the outbreak of the coronavirus that has killedaround 170 people in China and has been detected in many other countriesincluding India, Japan, Canada and the United States, among others.
During a weekly press briefing, Farooqui gave assurances that the“Pakistani government was making an all-out effort for its citizens”stranded in China and was doing everything to assist them. She clarifiedthat other countries were also in contact with China but none had attemptedto repatriate its citizens.
The FO spokesperson said the government was aware that some Pakistanicitizens were stranded on the Urumqi airport, adding that it was due to aflight delay. The government had contacted Chinese authorities and hadrequested them to “take care” of the Pakistani citizens, Farooqui toldreporters.
Farooqui lauded the Chinese government’s efforts to deal with the outbreakof the coronavirus and said Pakistan stood by China in this difficult time.
