Pakistan slams UK for keeping country on travel red list

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari as well as several members of British House of Commons on Thursday slammed the UK government for keeping Pakistan on its red list of countries at the latest coronavirus travel update while removing India from it.

Dr Mazari called the move "discrimination," saying it is "unacceptable". Britain’s MP Yasmin Qureshi termed the move to keep Pakistan on the red list while downgrading India “a clear and blatant discrimination towards Pakistan”.

The British government placed Pakistan and India on the red list on April 2 and 19, respectively. However, in an updated list, the government announced that India, Bahrain, Qatar, and UAE would be moved to the amber list from August 8.

"While it's right we continue our cautious approach, it's great news to open more destinations for people wanting to connect with families, friends and businesses across the globe, all thanks to our successful domestic vaccination programme," Grant Shapps, the UK Secretary of state for transport, tweeted.

"How can UK govt rationally place India on amber list while keeping Pakistan on red List? No scientific reason for this discrimination. Only politics coming into play again – UK cabinet showing clear political proclivity towards India. Unfortunate indeed," Mazari tweeted.

She said Pakistan’s effective Covid-19 strategy has been appreciated by the UN and WHO among other international organisations, in contrast to India's disastrous handling of the pandemic, adding it is a "clear political discrimination" against Pakistan.

The red list of the countries means only the UK nationals and those with residency rights will be allowed to travel to the country if they stayed in Pakistan in the 10 days before they arrive. The amber travel list means that returnees can quarantine at home, rather than in a hotel.

Read: 'It means the world': Families and friends reunite at UK's Heathrow

“This is clear and blatant discrimination towards Pakistan,” Qureshi, an MP from Bolton, said in a tweet. “To add insult to injury, the hotel quarantine cost is set to increase by between £450-£800, to a total of £2,200,” she added.

Qureshi also expressed concern at Pakistan’s continued presence on the red list despite fact that the country was “not having” any variants of concern.

“The government is seeking to penalise Pakistan in favour of potential economic benefit,” she said.

The government announcement also did not go down well with Bradford MP Naz Shah. Shah expressed her “surprise” but said that it wasn’t the first time that the UK demonstrated a “callous behaviour” while managing the air traffic system.

Shah went on to question why Pakistan was kept on the red list as its seven-day infection ratio was 14 per 100,00 people, while India had 20 infections per 100,000. She termed the ratio “well below the vast majority of amber list” destinations.

“The last time this government favoured political choices rather than science and risked our nation’s Covid efforts, it failed to place India on the red list,” Shah said in a statement shared on her Twitter handle. “That led to the Delta variant becoming the most prominent Covid variant in the UK.”

MP Sawah Owen said that she could not comprehend the latest changes. “When you see figures like this, Tory ministers have a lot of explaining to do as to why India is going amber yet Pakistan and other countries remain red,” she remarked.

“Decisions taken in isolation with no scrutiny are never good for the people we seek to represent. These decisions have big health [and] personal consequences,” Owen, a member of the House of Commons from the opposition Labour party, maintained.