Zubair Qureshi
Islamabad
A two-member task force comprising senior officials of the Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing on Tuesday visited Wuhan city — the epicentre of novel coronavirus — to assist Pakistani students confined in the Chinese city of Hubei province.
According to a statement by the Foreign Office spokesperson Ayesha Farooqi, the Chinese authorities accepted a a special request by Pakistan and allowed the task force to visit Pakistani students in Wuhan and to assist them until the city of Wuhan remained locked down.
The move came after parents of student demanded of Prime Minister Imran Khan to bring back their children.
Pakistani students in the Chinese universities that the officers have thus far visited were “safe, healthy, and well-looked after,” the statement further says.
Since the lockdown began in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, the embassy has maintained “a close liaison with Pakistani students and Chinese government at various tiers to provide assistance to Pakistani students, the FO spokesperson Ayesha Farooqi further said.
“Under the supervision of Ambassador of Pakistan, an 11-member core group was constituted to daily monitor the evolving situation and respond to queries/requests of Pakistani students,” the spokesperson said further.
The embassy has also setup two 24/7 hotlines for facilitation of students in China, the press release said.
The task force, which will remain in coordination with Chinese authorities, will be permanently deployed in Wuhan and “will return to Beijing once the lock-down in Wuhan is lifted in its entirety and on-ground situation is completely stabilized”, the FO statement added.“In the coming days, the officers will visit students in three other universities as well as the administrative staff in those universities to ensure the welfare of Pakistani students in Wuhan,” the FO statement said.
