A special chartered plane carrying 261 Pakistanis that left Tripoli on Tuesday morning has arrived in Lahore, sources have revealed.
This is the fourth special plane sent to evacuate Pakistanis after the security situation in the country deteriorated rapidly over the last few months.
The Pakistan Embassy in Tripoli had set up various relief camps to provide relief to the Pakistanis stranded in Libya. There are currently 3,000 people in the relief camps.
Earlier, three Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights were sent to Libya to bring back the Pakistanis. Special chartered flights have now been arranged in view of PIA’s limited capacity to operate flights to Libya during the Hajj season.
According to sources, the chartered flights are expected to run on a daily basis over the next 10 days. The Embassy in Tripoli has also devised a transparent registration mechanism to queue up passengers for the chartered flights.
Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) has been advised to facilitate the arrival of the evacuated Pakistanis and provide them all support for onward travel. The OPF’s facilitation desks will be operating at the airports.
Last month, a crisis management cell (CMC) was set up by the ministry of foreign affairs to organise relief and evacuation operations for over 6,000 Pakistanis severely affected by the current spate of instability and violence in Libya.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2014.
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