Stranded British-Pakistanis: 75 Labour MPs write to British foreign secretary seeking repatriation

MANCHESTER: Seventy-five members of the British Parliament, including former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow ministers, have written to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Dominic Raab regarding British-Pakistanis stranded in Pakistan.

Gorton, Manchester MP Afzal Khan in a letter to the foreign secretary said there were around 100,000 British nationals stranded in Pakistan, as estimated by the British High Commission in Pakistan.

“We are concerned that the High Commission in Pakistan is not adopting examples of best practices that we have seen from other UK embassies around the World,” Khan said.

He added that many British nationals were either elderly, vulnerable or had an underlying condition and desperately need to access essential medicines and self-isolate safely. “Airlines have cancelled flights and not given people cash refunds which have left them thousands of pounds out of pocket. People are running out of money and are going to need government support. The emergency travel loan is months out of date and nowhere near comprehensive enough to address the current situation,” he said.

In an exclusive video message to Geo.TV, MP Khan said, “The Pakistani government should also help these British citizens in accommodating special flights from Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. Pakistani diaspora is always there to support Pakistan; they should be supported by the government of Pakistan in this difficult time.”Several hundred British citizens stranded in Pakistan have taken to social media criticising both governments in dealing with their situation. In some cases, people have complained that they felt as if they are left abandoned with no support at all from both governments on ground.

Statement from the British High Commission spokesperson: Today we saw over 600 Brits get back home, with hundreds more to arrive later this weekend. With more flights scheduled to leave from locations across Pakistan later this week we will see many hundreds of people returning home. These are unprecedented times and British High Commission in Pakistan has been working tirelessly behind the scenes with the authorities and airlines to get these flights, the statement added. “We know this is a worrying time for many and our priority is always to help British people – particularly the most vulnerable – wanting to return to the UK, it said.