ISLAMABAD: A group of volunteers arrived at a local hotel in Islamabad on Thursday to disinfect the premises before 250 stranded Pakistanis from Saudi Arabia were brought to the facility by the authorities on Friday which had turned the building into a quarantine center early last month.
The young members of the team belonged to Al-Mustafa Scouts who were forced to temporarily discontinue their education due to the COVID-19 situation.
“Al-Mustafa Scouts is an open group of individuals that seeks to serve Pakistan,” said the team leader, Shabih-ul-Hassan, speaking to Arab News while working inside one of 16 quarantine centers in the federal capital. “We are not going to let this virus hold us hostage and confine us to our homes.”
The scouts claimed they were self-funded and supported by their families.
Equipped with face shields, masks, gloves, and chlorine-based disinfectant spray containers, the group is asked to cleanse quarantine centers by the Islamabad administration before the repatriated Pakistani nationals arrive at the facility and after they leave the accommodation.
Pakistan recently introduced special flights to bring back its citizens from other countries. Many of these people were stranded abroad due to the suspension of international flights after much of the world went into lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The incoming Pakistani nationals also include those expatriate workers who lost their jobs as businesses around the world suffered huge losses due to the global economic downturn triggered by the pandemic.
According to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, some 60,000 overseas Pakistanis intend to return to their country and the government was hoping to bring them back before the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Fitr.
Arab News was given a rare opportunity to visit a quarantine facility and captured in this video what Pakistani nationals should expect upon their return to the country
Unsung heroes disinfect quarantine centers for returning Pakistanis
https://arab.news/rs6dm
Unsung heroes disinfect quarantine centers for returning Pakistanis
- Government intends to bring back 60,000 Pakistanis stranded abroad before Eid Al-Fitr, says FM Qureshi
- Members of Al-Mustafa Scouts say they want to serve their country and will not let a virus hold them hostage
Pakistan army hits Afghan Taliban drone storage facility, ammunition depot in Jalalabad
- Around 435 Afghan Taliban fighters killed, over 630 injured in Pakistani military offensive, minister says
- Several countries, global bodies have urged both sides to exercise restraint since the conflict began last week
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army struck a drone storage facility and ammunition depot of Afghan Taliban in Jalalabad, a Pakistani security official said on Monday, following Pakistani strikes on more than 50 locations in Afghanistan amid ongoing hostilities between the neighbors.
Pakistan launched Operation ‘Ghazb lil Haq’ against Afghanistan on the night of Feb. 26 following an attack by Afghanistan on Pakistani military installations along their shared border.
The worst fighting between the two neighbors in years erupted after Pakistani airstrikes targeted what Islamabad called militant hideouts inside Afghanistan on Feb. 21-22, accusing Kabul of harboring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants behind the attacks on its soil. Afghanistan denies the charge.
A Pakistani security official, who requested anonymity, said the army was continuing “strong retaliatory action” against the Afghan Taliban and blew up multiple border posts, forcing them to abandon their positions.
“Pakistan forces are effectively targeting the bases and military installations of the Fitna Al-Khawarij and the Afghan Taliban,” he said.
“During the effective counter-operation of the Pakistani forces, the ammunition depot and drone storage site of Fitna Al-Khawarij (TTP) and the Afghan Taliban in Jalalabad was destroyed.”
Separately, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said more than 400 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed and over 630 wounded in the Pakistani military offensive so far.
Pakistan destroyed around 188 check posts and captured 31, according to a post on X by Tarar. Over 180 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns were also destroyed in Pakistani air raids at 51 locations across Afghanistan.
On Sunday, Pakistani state media shared a video of what it said were Pakistani soldiers crossing into Afghanistan in the northwest to capture an Afghan post. Pakistan has seized a 32-square-kilometer area of Afghanistan, another Pakistani security official said.
Afghan officials earlier said that dozens of Pakistani soldiers had been killed and several Pakistan posts had been captured by their forces. None of the casualty figures or battlefield claims from either side could be independently verified.
Since the conflict began last week, diplomatic efforts have intensified, with several countries and international bodies calling on both sides to exercise restraint.
The United Nations, along with China and Russia, has called for calm, while US President Donald Trump said Pakistan has the right to defend itself against cross-border militancy.
