ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday the country was monitoring the situation in the Middle East and would do everything to guarantee the safety of its nationals in Iraq and the rest of the region.
“We are watching the situation in the Middle East closely which also includes the safety of our people there,” foreign office spokesperson, Aisha Farooqui, told Arab News.
Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated in the region after the American president, Donald Trump, ordered a drone strike in Baghdad that killed the top Iranian commander, Major General Qassem Soleimani, early Friday.
Soleimani was the head of his country’s elite Al Quds force and was thought to be the man behind Tehran’s growing military influence in the region.
“Pakistan has viewed with deep concern the recent developments in the Middle East, which seriously threaten peace and stability in the region,” said the country’s foreign ministry in an official handout circulated just a few hours after the incident on Friday.
The press secretary at the Pakistan embassy in Iraq, Mazhar Nisar Shami, told Arab News on phone from Baghdad that the country’s diplomatic mission was concerned about the safety of its citizens in the Arab country and in touch with them.
“We have asked them to restrict their movements, though a majority of our expats here [in Iraq] are unskilled laborers who cannot stop going to work. So we have issued an advisory to restrict their movement as much as possible. The embassy has asked Pakistani citizens to remain confined to their workplaces and houses only,” Shami said, adding that the situation had not escalated to a point where evacuation was required.
“The situation has not reached a level where it can be declared alarming and where evacuation becomes necessary,” he said.
He noted that things were relatively calm on Sunday, though the overall atmosphere in Iraq was quite intense.
“We have an office in Najaf which deals with Pakistani pilgrims in Najaf and Karbala,” he continued. “We are in contact with them as well, and all of our offices are ensuring complete safety of Pakistani nationals in Iraq.”
