ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been in close contact with the Pakistan Embassy in Kazakhstan with a view to providing all possible assistance to the Pakistani Community there amid growing unrest.
The former Soviet republic is currently in the grip of protests triggered by a surge in fuel prices. Now, they have turned into anti-government protests that have claimed several lives of citizens and security officials.
The Pakistan Embassy has reported that all Pakistanis are safe.
The Pakistan Embassy has established “Help Desks” in Nursultan and Almaty to facilitate Pakistanis requiring emergency services (http://pakembkazakhstan.org/). The contact details of the Help Desks are as under:
Nursultan:
Mr. Altaf Hussain (Deputy Head of Mission, Nursultan)
Phone No. +77753712102
Almaty:
Mr. Muhammad Farooque (Trade & Investment Counsellor, Almaty)
Phone No. +77004488032
Mr. Mohsin Rashid (Consular Attaché)
Phone No. +77026572163
All Pakistanis living in Kazakhstan have been advised to restrict unnecessary movement and remain in close contact with the Embassy in case of any emergency.
Kazakhstan’s former intelligence chief has been arrested on suspicion of treason, the state security agency said on Saturday.
The detention of Karim Massimov was announced by the National Security Committee which he headed until he was fired by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday after violent protests swept across the Central Asian nation.
Tokayev’s office said he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the situation was stabilising.
“At the same time, hotbeds of terrorist attacks persist. Therefore, the fight against terrorism will continue with full determination,” it quoted him as saying.
The president of Kazakhstan on Friday declared that constitutional order was “mainly restored” after the country was engulfed in unprecedented unrest in recent days.
“An anti-terror operation has commenced. Law enforcement agencies are working hard. Constitutional order has been mainly restored in all regions of the country. Local authorities are in control of the situation,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was quoted by his spokespeople as saying Friday.
The president added, however, that “terrorists are still using weapons and are damaging people’s property” and that “counterterrorist actions” should be continued. Kazakhstan is experiencing the worst street protests since the country gained independence three decades ago. The demonstrations began over a near-doubling of prices for a type of vehicle fuel and quickly spread across the country, reflecting wider discontent over the rule of the same party since independence.
