Hundreds of Pakistani prisoners return from Dubai amid pandemic

DUBAI: Hundreds of Pakistani prisoners flew back home on Tuesday in two special flights amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, according to Pakistan’s Consul General to Dubai, Ahmed Amjad Ali.
A FlyDubai flight carrying 185 passengers left for Faisalabad from Dubai on Tuesday evening at 5 pm while another flight with another 188 prisoners left for Peshawar at 9pm local time. 
Both the flights were carrying pardoned prisoners, Ali told Arab News. 
“Pakistan government will keep these passengers in quarantine for seven days upon arrival,” he added.
Another two flights are expected to take stranded passengers back home on April 18 and 19, Ali said.
In an apparent request made to the Pakistan government by the UAE to open airspace for special flights, a circular issued by Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on April 13 read, “The UAE government through FlyDubai has requested permission to operate flights between Dubai to Faisalabad on 14th April to transport 180 stranded Pakistani nationals to Faisalabad."
These special flights, on return, will carry 11 personnel of the UAE embassy in Islamabad back to Dubai, the statement added.
The CAA said that Islamabad gave the permission upon condition that "no disembarkation of flight crew shall be permitted from the aircraft upon arrival at Faisalabad International Airport.”
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UAE, Ghulam Dastgir told Arab News on Monday that Pakistan government was working out a plan to quarantine the returning passengers before the evacuation.
His comments followed the UAE’s warning to take action if countries did not speed up action to evacuate its citizens who wanted to travel back home. 
Meanwhile, a statement issued by FlyDubai read: “We are fully supporting governments and authorities across the flydubai network with their repatriation efforts helping them to make arrangements for their citizens to return home.”