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Friday March 29, 2024

Second PIA plane to leave for Yemen Tuesday morning

ISLAMABAD: An airplane of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will depart for Yemen Tuesday morning around 10 am to evacuate the second batch of Pakistani citizens stranded in the war-stricken country.

Shujaat Azeem, the Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Aviation, told Geo News that the foreign office had arranged authorization to fly over Yemen's no fly zone for the first

By GEO ENGLISH
March 30, 2015
ISLAMABAD: An airplane of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will depart for Yemen Tuesday morning around 10 am to evacuate the second batch of Pakistani citizens stranded in the war-stricken country.

Shujaat Azeem, the Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Aviation, told Geo News that the foreign office had arranged authorization to fly over Yemen's no fly zone for the first PIA plane that brought back 503 citizens to Pakistan earlier this morning.

Pakistan evacuated its first batch of citizens as Saudi-led air strikes hammered Houthi rebel targets, with a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition confirming they had “ensured a safe corridor” by suspending operations around Hodeidah airport for a few hours to allow Pakistan “to evacuate its citizens”.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was personally monitoring the evacuation and had directed officials to ensure the safe return of every citizen, a spokesman of Sharif’s office said.

Also read: PIA plane brings over 500 Pakistanis back from Yemen

Azeem said that a second PIA plane was on standby, and will depart for Yemen around 10 am Tuesday morning to evacuate 250 Pakistanis still stranded there.

A PIA spokesman confirmed that a second, smaller plane with a capacity of around 230 passengers was being kept on standby.




Earlier on Sunday, Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said there were still up to 250 Pakistanis in the port town of Mukalla, which was peaceful, with officials trying to ascertain how many want to be evacuated from nearby Riyan airport.

She said fighting was going on in the southern government stronghold of Aden where up to 200 Pakistanis were stranded as the airport was not accessible but the port was open.

"Our navy ship on its way to Aden. We are also coordinating with the Chinese," Aslam said.

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry had said Saturday around 3,000 Pakistanis lived in Yemen with some 1,000 trying to leave the country.

Restating Islamabad’s staunch support for Saudi Arabia, Chaudhry said a delegation would soon leave for Riyadh, but rejected reports that Pakistan would join the Saudi-led coalition bombing mission.

Pakistan is a longstanding ally of the Gulf kingdom with close military ties, but Islamabad has not yet committed to the operation, which has drawn strong criticism from its neighbour Iran.