STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said it is the country’s obligation to repatriate stranded Pakistani nationals in other countries. “The world is going through unprecedented and difficult times,” FM Qureshi said in a video message. “We would be able to repatriate stranded Pakistanis as our testing and quarantine facilities increase. Repatriating stranded Pakistani nationals is our obligation.” The foreign minister said Pakistan’s ambassadors and consulates abroad are extending every possible assistance to the country’s citizens by providing them “accommodation, food and meeting their needs.” He further said special protocols and standard operating procedures have been made through which nine flights have managed to bring back stranded Pakistani nationals from aboard. “Sixteen hundred stranded Pakistanis have been brought back while 36,000 to 40,000 are still awaiting their return to the homeland,” the minister said. The foreign minister reiterated that citizens who have always contributed significantly to the national economy will not be left alone in this difficult time. “The lockdown and closure of businesses in the Gulf countries in the wake of coronavirus have rendered many of our overseas Pakistanis without a livelihood,” FM said, adding that the federal government is fully cognizant of their problems.
