Evacuation Update

In keeping with the directives of the Prime Minister, the Crisis Management Cell (CMC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs is continuing with its efforts for an expeditious and safe evacuation of stranded Pakistanis from Yemen, in coordination with all concerned departments, including PIA, and our Embassies abroad.

Following the timely evacuation of over 500 Pakistanis, through a daring airlift operation from Al Hudeida, there are about 400 Pakistanis still awaiting evacuation, mainly in Aden, Mokallah and Sana’a.

Aden
Due to the ongoing fighting around Aden, evacuation, by air, through the Mokallah airport, which is at a considerable distance, has become extremely risky. Therefore, around 200 Pakistanis stranded in Aden will now be evacuated through a Chinese Naval Ship reaching Aden tomorrow (April 1, 2015). These Pakistanis will be taken to Djibouti by sea. From there, a special PIA flight will bring them back to Pakistan.

Our Ambassador in Ethiopia has been instructed to personally set up a camp office in Djibouti to receive these Pakistanis, and organize their immigration, stay and journey back to Pakistan. Djibouti government has agreed to provide the required support.

Mokallah
A PNS ship is scheduled to reaching Mokallah on 2nd April to evacuate around 150 Pakistanis from the city where security situation is still fairly stable. These will be brought back directly to Karachi.

Sana’a
There are from 70-90 Pakistanis stranded in Sana’a, who could not move to Al Hudeida with the convoy led by our Ambassador and, therefore, missed an opportunity to be flown back through special flights organized, earlier. They are also not willing to move to other cities in Yemen from where they could be airlifted to Pakistan, given the distance and difficult conditions. We are, therefore, planning to arrange a special flight to San’a for their evacuation, despite the challenging situation in the city.

In this regard, Saudi authorities have been requested for an exemption of “No Fly” restriction imposed. Ground clearances from the local authorities are also being obtained. A PIA aircraft is already on stand-bye for this operation. Since Sana’a airport had suffered partial damage during recent bombings, therefore, all logistic and technical aspects are being carefully examined for a safe operation.

Coordination Committees have been set up in Sana’a, Mokallah and Aden, which are in constant touch with Crisis Management Cell. Registration of all Pakistanis, who need to be evacuated, is nearing completion, and local logistics for evacuation from all the three cities are also being worked out.

Islamabad
March 31, 2015

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