Pakistanis stranded in China ask govt to evacuate them

BATKHELA: A group of 45 Pakistani tourists and traders stranded in China following the closure of the Pak-China border due to a landslide at Sust have asked the Pakistani government to evacuate them.

Talking to reporters by telephone from a Chinese town near the Pak-China border, Nek Amal Khan, hailing from Batkhela, said that they werefaced with a host of problems as they had run short of money.

He said the Pakistani tourists, including Hameedullah, Syed Kamal Khan, Zahidullah, Sarfaraz Bacha and Suhail Khan hailing from Peshawar, Mardan and Charsadda and Rizwan and Abdul Rehman belonging to Punjab had been stranded in China for the last eight days.

Nek Amal said they had contacted the Pakistan Embassy, but no effort was made to rescue them as several tourists and traders had fallen ill due to the inclement weather conditions.He said they had valid travel documents and were supposed to return home by March 31. “We are stranded at Tashqurgan in China due to the closure of the border due to the landslide at the border town of Sust,” Nek Amal added.  The stranded Pakistani tourists complained that no effort was being made to remove the snow to open the border crossing.