OUR CORRESPONDENTS
ISLAMABAD/ABBOTTABAD Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari Friday said his ministry had been working out a plan to repatriate the corpses of those overseas Pakistanis who got died abroad due to COVID19 pandemic. ‘We are in contact with Qatar and other International airlines so that dead bodies of overseas Pakistanis can be brought back to Pakistan from across the globe,’ he said in a video message released here for the families of those expats who have lost their lives in the fight against coronavirus. Human remains of those who were died of coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, the United State of America and other countries would be airlifted soon, he added. The special assistant said special flights of the Pakistan International Airline would also be arranged for the purpose. He said the overseas ministry had rough numbers at the moment as usually it did not receive data of second and third generations of overseas Pakistanis from abroad. Currently, data of such Pakistanis were being compiled, he added. Zulfikar Bukhari said he was aware of the challenges faced by Pakistanis in transporting the dead bodies of their loved ones from abroad due to halted international flights. He also lauded the efforts of those overseas Pakistanis who had been performing duties in medical field and fighting the virus on forefront. ‘I salute them for making Pakistan proud.’ The special assistant urged the Pakistani expatriates for lodging complaints on the official social media pages of the OP&HRD. Speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani Friday condoled the sad demises of Pakistani expatriates all over the world owing to the COVID-19. In his condolence message to the bereaved families, the speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani expressed heartfelt grief and sorrow over the sad demise of Pakistanis in Europe, America and other parts of the world owing to the outbreak of COVID-19. The Speaker said that on the special directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan government was in contact with the embassies and scheduling the flights for bringing back Pakistanis those were trapped in other countries in the wake of Coronavirus. He further said that I personally in contact with many of the expatriates Pakistanis and aware of the situation. Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani also prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed souls in eternal peace and grant strength and courage to the bereaved families to bear the irreparable loss with equanimity.