ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is supervising the evacuation operation of Pakistani nationals stranded in strife-torn Yemen, will be chairing yet another high echelon meeting today (Monday) at the PM House to take stock of the overall situation regarding Yemen. It would be the third such brainstorming session at the level of the chief executive of the country. The prime minister, who was in Lahore and was supposed to return Islamabad on Monday evening, returned on Sunday due to the situation in Yemen. Some important decisions are supposed to be taken in a day or two to determine Pakistan’s role in the crisis. A high-level team, comprising PM’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and the senior-most officers of the three services after their respective chiefs, is leaving for the Saudi capital Riyadh today (Monday). The team will have extensive discussions pertaining to the situation in the area with counterpart authorities and make on-ground assessment. The team is expected to return home on the following day and it will submit its report to the premier. The prime minister had told Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz in his telephonic conversation that he would be dispatching the Pak delegation after conclusion of the Arab summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. The Saudi leadership and senior officials were in the tourist resort of Egypt for the summit and they have returned to Riyadh. Highly-placed diplomatic sources told ‘The News’ on Sunday evening that with the arrival of first batch of stranded Pakistani nationals, Pakistan has taken lead over India in repatriation of its expatriates that will be airlifting its nationals from Yemen after getting permission from authorities concerned to fly from Sanaa for three hours a day. The prime minister has been directly in touch with the Foreign Office, Interior Ministry, aviation authorities and Pakistan’s ambassador to Yemen Dr Irfan Yousaf Shami to who he spoke personally about the situation. The prime minister was kept briefed about the movement of Pakistanis nationals and they were provided all possible facilities including their movement from Sana’a to Al-Hadeeda and their lodging in Pakistan embassy school there. These were the directives of the prime minister that first PIA’s wide bodied plan jumbo was consigned to Yemen and then frigate was sailed for the people who were in need of rescue. The frigate will stay in Gulf of Aden as long it would be required to present in the area, the sources added.
