PIA chief asks US envoy for help in bringing back Pakistanis stuck in US
On Saturday, chief of Pakistan International Airline (PIA), Arshad Malik, sought support from US Ambassador Paul Jones to repatriate people trapped in the U.S.
“We want to bring back Pakistanis stranded in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic,” Malik said in a letter to the American ambassador.
“Because of the pandemic, flights have been cancelled and we would like the American Embassy to help us out in this regard. The American Embassy can contact the relevant departments and help us in repatriating our citizens.”
After flight operations were halted due to the coronavirus outbreak, Pakistan was slowly evacuating its nationals from different countries.
Islamabad began repatriating some of the Pakistanis from the UAE last week, which had previously warned countries that refused to take back citizens stranded by the coronavirus pandemic that it might re-examine labor relations.
Last weekend a PIA flight took 227 Pakistanis from the Emirates south.
Reuters announced that 13 more repatriation flights will depart from the UAE between April 20 and April 28, adding that they will be operated by Emirates, Air Arabia and PIA.
“The governments of UAE and Pakistan continue to work to facilitate further flights to repatriate Pakistani nationals.”
The national carrier carried back stranded Pakistanis from the UK.
