Pakistanis in Yemen

It appears that the government has been caught off guard once again. At least 2,000 Pakistanis need emergency evacuation from various parts of Yemen as the escalation of the conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels has escalated. It is obvious that the decision made to join the Saudi-led war effort two days ago, despite it having been reversed due to public pressure, was hastily made and without having considered the ground realities in either Pakistan or Yemen. A day after the now reversed decision was made Pakistani workers stationed in Yemen began to make appeals to be immediately evacuated from the country. Some of them said that the government’s partial position on the conflict has made them possible targets of any backlash on the part of Houthi rebels. While the Pakistani Foreign Office has claimed that Pakistanis in Yemen had been issued a warning two months ago that the conflict in the country might escalate, the trapped families are claiming that they had been offered no exit plan.
The good news may be that the furore has pushed the government of Pakistan into action. The Prime Minister’s Office has claimed two PIA planes have been dispatched to the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to evacuate the almost 560 Pakistanis stranded there. Over two dozen Pakistanis are also stranded in the country’s jails over various misdemeanours. The Foreign Office, however, has warned that most major airports in the country are dysfunctional while land routes to the operating airports and sea ports remain unsafe. The question is: how is it that months have been let go without anticipating the severity of the threat that our country’s citizens face in Yemen? How is it that the government announced a decision – albeit reversed for now – without having considered the fact that over 2,000 Pakistani citizens could face possible retribution? The FO has suggested that if the stranded Pakistanis are not able to reach secured airports, they may have to travel via secured convoys with citizens of other countries a possibility. Yemen’s neighbouring countries have been contacted over whether they will be willing to let Pakistani citizens enter without visas to escape from the conflict. This then appears to be yet another case of negligence of by our government. The evacuation emergency should have been declared weeks ago.