Over 10,500 Pak expats to be airlifted from UAE this week

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) said on Tuesday the government would airlift over 10,500 stranded Pakistanis from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week (June 7 to June 15) through 46 special flights under the world’s largest repatriation operation.

Around five international airlines, including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), were engaged in the current phase of repatriation operation to bring back over 20,000 Pakistanis stuck in the foreign shores due to travel restriction imposed across the globe to curb the coronavirus spread, an official in the OP&HRD ministry told APP.

According to him, more than 20 flights would be operated for bringing back over 5,000 stranded Pakistanis from Saudi Arabia under the repatriation operation which would continue in phases. “Laid off Pakistani workers, students and people with expired visas are given top priority during the repatriation process,” the official added.

He said around 2,500 stranded Pakistanis would be evacuated from Qatar via 10 special flights to be operated from June 7 to June 15. Under the current phase, he said, Pakistanis would also be brought back from multiple countries —including Australia, Canada, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Oman, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Except Malaysia, one flight for each country would be operated during the said period, he added.

Meanwhile, as many as 291 overseas Pakistanis arrived in Faisalabad from Dubai in two flights during the past 24 hours. They were quarantined at their homes after taking their blood samples for Covid-19 test.

According to the district administration, 150 passengers arrived in Faisalabad in the first flight, while 141 others came in the second flight.