Pakistan decides to reopen 25% airspace from 20th

Around 45,000 stranded Pakistanis will be brought back to country every week

ISLAMABAD: The federal government had decided to reopen 25% of its airspace after June 20 to bring back more Pakistanis stranded abroad because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Under a new policy, around 40,000 to 45,000 Pakistanis will return to the country every week and all stranded citizens will be home in a month.

“The federal government, in consultation with the National Command and Operation Centre [NCOC] and the provinces, has formulated a new comprehensive policy for the repatriation of the Pakistanis stuck abroad,” Special Assistant to the PM on National Security and Strategic Policy Dr Moeed Yusuf said at a news conference.

“Under the new policy, only symptomatic passengers will be tested and if found they positive, they will be quarantined at the facilities provided by the government,” he added.

“However, it will be mandatory for every passenger to quarantine themselves for 14 days at home and they will have to submit this in writing at the airport.”

The SAPM explained that the provinces through the track and trace system would keep an eye on these passengers and those found in violation would be penalised in accordance with law.

Six airports are operating at present and the government has also decided to make the Quetta and Sialkot airports functional to expand the repatriation flight operation.

The PM’s aide said currently there were 98,700 Pakistanis registered with embassies in 70 countries seeking to return home. “Around 100,000 students studying abroad are also in the line,” he added.

He clarified that the flight operation was only for repatriation of stranded Pakistanis and the government had not decided to resume pre-coronavirus pandemic flight operations.

The SAPM also dispelled the impression that Pakistanis returning to the country were responsible for transmission of Covid-19 in the country.

“Only 3% Pakistanis brought the virus to the country whereas the remaining 97% cases are locally transmitted.”

Special Assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, who was also present on the occasion, said of the 25% airspace that was being reopened, 7%0 flights would be dedicated for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Malaysia where Pakistani labourers were stranded.

He elaborated that 80,000 stranded Pakistanis had been repatriated to the country, of which 40,000 were the workers who had been laid off by their employers abroad.

He said around 600 bodies of Pakistanis had been brought to the country and the remains of 100 others were in process of repatriation from Saudi Arabia.

"The existing number of laid off workers has not hit the economy hard. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the country has received $20.6 billion remittances in May as compared to $20.1 billion in the same month last year,” he explained.

“In the prevailing situation, the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development along with other stakeholders would make all-out efforts to keep the remittances inflow up.”

The special assistant said his ministry in collaboration with other government departments had been working on an integration programme for returning Pakistanis so that they could register themselves on the Overseas Employment Corporation's portal and share their professional details which would eventually help maintain their data."

We are also planning to include them under Ehsaas and Prime Minister's Kamyab Jawan programmes," he added. He said the PTI led government had sent around one million Pakistanis abroad for various job assignments during its tenure.