All stranded Pakistanis to be brought back in next 10 days: Moeed

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to PM on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning Moeed Yusuf on Thursday said that all stranded Pakistanis would be brought back in next 10 days from abroad, if they willed so.

In response to UK media reports, Moeed Yusuf said, “In one or two instances, passengers travelled on fake covid-19 tests to foreign countries.” He said the UK high commission said the stance regarding linking spread of coronavirus in UK from Pakistan was of newspapers and not of the government.

On Jul 1, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari had rejected the British media reports as baseless and misleading which claimed that the UK had imported half of coronavirus cases from Pakistan.

Also Read: More than 100,000 people recovered from coronavirus in Pakistan

He had said the pandemic hit the UK in start of February, while it reached Pakistan by end of the same month. He had said there was not even a single case of coronavirus in Pakistan before it was reported in the United Kingdom.

The PM’s aide Moeed said Coronavirus was spread all over the world. The Pakistanis going abroad in this situation should demonstrate responsibility, he added. In case of suffering from any disease, go to airport only after getting yourself tested for the viral disease, he said.

He said the rate of spread of coronavirus from the passengers travelling from Pakistan was very low.

“Stranded Pakistanis have been brought back from 70 different countries. 90 percent of those returning from abroad are labourers,” he said

Dr Moeed Yusuf said those going abroad for tourism should avoid travelling as the government’s top priority would be to facilitate labourers first in bringing back them home.

90 percent of Pakistanis in the Middle East wanted to return, he said.