Pakistani immigrants in distress due to PIA’s closure of direct flights for dead

Islamabad : Although already hard struck by meagre earnings and a tough life in the United States, the low income Pakistani immigrants are in agony because the closure of direct free flights by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), for the dead almost seven months ago which has created great problems for the repatriation of low-income immigrants to Pakistan.

The residents of New York neighbourhood known as ‘Little Pakistan’, feel hard done by the decision taken by PIA on October 28, 2017, when it flew its last flight from John F. Kennedy Airport leaving the low-income immigrants most of them daily wage earners, some undocumented and with limited English proficiency beset with worry and fear of what to do when a loved one who wished to be buried in Pakistan dies.

Now, aside from the approximately $1,500 to $1,800 dollars needed for the funeral services and embalming, a process mandatory for a body being transported to another country, the immigrants will also have to scramble to find money for the air travel.

The practicalities of body repatriation are a constant stress for them, who are barely earning enough to make ends meet as it is. Now aside from the added costs, it will take much longer for the body to reach Pakistan, which is problematic according to the Islamic faith which states that a body must be buried as soon as possible - something which has become a distant dream for the low-income immigrant community in America.

Some Pakistani immigrants are lobbying to get the Pakistani airline route restored so bodies of families and friends can return home with dignity. — Nushmiya Sukhera is a student at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.