Rabbani asks govt to take steps to evacuate Pakistanis from China

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Senator Mian Raza Rabbani on Thursday expressed concern over certain Pakistani students being affected by coronavirus and regretted that the federal government had failed to take adequate measures on this count.

“It is a matter of grave concern that certain Pakistani students have been affected by the ‘coronavirus’ while others are at serious risk.

“The federal government has failed to take adequate measures to provide information and/or access to the parents or the relation of the students,” he said.

“The life and health of every Pakistani is priceless. The government should immediately take adequate measures and ensure that by special chartered flights the students and other Pakistanis are evacuated to Pakistan till the said virus persists in China,” he maintained.

In a statement issued here, he pointed out that the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing had failed to maintain regular contact with the students and there is information that the ‘Help Line Number’ was also inoperative.

A Parliamentary Committee, he proposed, should immediately be formed to provide constant oversight over the government’s measures.