ANP asks govt asked to facilitate Pakistanis stranded in Gulf States

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) submitted a resolution at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly that asked the federal government to provide facilities to the Pakistanis stranded abroad and bring them home. The resolution was submitted by the ANP provincial General Secretary and lawmaker Sardar Hussain Babak at the KP Assembly Secretariat. It said the government should bring back the overseas Pakistanis, particularly those working as labourers in the Gulf States. The resolution said the government had made poor arrangements for the overseas Pakistanis, particularly the labourers working in the Middle East. It said they were facing difficulties due to the apathy of the federal government towards their miseries in these testing times. Sardar Hussain Babak claimed that air tickets were being sold to these Pakistanis at inflated rates. “Instead of providing them subsidized tickets, the government institutions were fleecing the stranded Pakistanis,” the resolution alleged. He said that diplomatic missions, national airlines and officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were doing nothing to help these hapless people. He noted that though the issue was being highlighted by the affected people through social media, the officials continued to deprive them of their hard-earned money. The lawmaker said the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar was closed on purpose to ensure that the returning people spend money on their stay at hotels in other cities. The resolution asked the federal government to take the issue of these people seriously and address their problems forthwith.