'Pakistan completes repatriation process'

SAPM Dr Moeed Yusuf says 250,000 stranded nationals flown back home since April 3

ISLAMABAD:

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning Dr Moeed Yusuf on Saturday said Pakistan has completed the repatriation of its nationals from around the world.

“As many as 250,000 stranded Pakistanis have flown back home since April 3,” said the SAPM while talking to The Express Tribune.

He said that about one-fourth of the overall pre-Covid-19 flights were allowed to repatriate Pakistani nationals stranded abroad, adding that the government preferred to use Pakistan International Airlines to bring them back as it needed to have more control over landing destinations and bringing back passengers from multiple locations in one go.

“The prime minister announced the completion of our mission of repatriating Pakistanis from around the world,” Yusuf said. “Around 250,000 Pakistanis have flown back from 70 countries mostly through PIA flights.”

Yusuf said only a few passengers have yet to be repatriated from China and Kyrgyzstan and a few other destinations because of the closure of their airspace, adding that the government was operating special flights to bring back these Pakistanis.

Since the coronavirus outbreak in December 2019, a whopping number of Pakistanis were stuck on foreign shores due to the closure of international regular flight operations across the world, compelling the government to start relief flight operations to evacuate its citizens from multiple countries.

The government gave priority to the laid-off workers, students and people with expired visas during the repatriation process.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also expressed on Saturday that the government has fulfilled its promise of bringing back stranded Pakistanis and overseas workers.

In a tweet, the prime minister stated: “Despite massive disruptions in global air travel, we have fulfilled our promise of bringing back stranded Pakistanis and our overseas workers. 250,000 Pakistanis from around the world have been brought home. My government will continue to support overseas Pakistanis in every way possible.”

On July 17, Yusuf called on PM Imran and briefed him about the overall progress of the repatriation process. Interestingly, PM Office’s official statement issued on Friday put the total number of passengers at 225,000 while the PM’s tweet mentioned that 250,000 people returned to the country.

To the question if roughly 25,000 people were brought back in the last 24 hours, Yusuf clarified that the figures shared with the premier in the July 17 meeting were up to July 13 only. He said that the premier used the latest figures in his tweet.

On implementation of the SOPs, Yusuf said that policy of social distancing was maintained among the passengers throughout the repatriation process as recommended by the health authorities in Pakistan.

Sharing details of the flight operations, Yusuf said that roughly 275 flights flew in and out of Pakistan and brought 35,000 to 40,000 Pakistani citizens back to their homeland every week. Initially, he said, there was a lot of criticism on the government when the issue had surfaced but “we kept our focus on the repatriation process and have now completed it despite massive disruptions in global air travel”.

On March 21, he said, Pakistan had closed its airspace and the repatriation process started from April 3, adding that initially the number of stranded Pakistanis was close to 60,000 but it ultimately reached over 200,000.

“We determined our priorities and started sending even empty flights to several destinations,” he said, adding that passengers from multiple countries were pooled together at a regional hub from where they were brought back.

On the issue of high fare charged by the national carrier, he said that people felt that the PIA’s fare was high but that was not the case as its fare was lower as compared to other airlines.