KARACHI: A spokesperson for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Wednesday the national carrier’s operations to Kabul had been “temporarily” suspended as the new Afghan Taliban regime was restricting its nationals from leaving the country.
The United States and its allies have evacuated more than 70,000 people, including their citizens, NATO personnel and Afghans at risk, since August 14, the day before the Taliban swept into the capital, Kabul. Pakistan, which has refused to admit Afghan refugees, has so far helped evacuate almost 1,500 people, most of them diplomats and staff at international organizations and media outlets working in Afghanistan.
The Taliban have said all foreign evacuations must be completed by August 31 and asked the United States to stop urging talented Afghans to leave, while also trying to persuade people camped at Kabul airport to go home, assuring them they had nothing to fear.
“We have requests from international agencies to transport their support staff, mostly of Afghanistan nationality, however, the new Afghan [Taliban] regime is not allowing nationals to travel at this point,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Khan told Arab News, adding that the airline would resume operations once the restrictions were relaxed.
“Almost all aspiring Pakistani nationals have reached Pakistan either by air or through road,” Khan said. “The PIA has evacuated 1460 people, including Pakistanis and nationals of different countries.”
“We guarantee their [Afghans] security,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference here on Tuesday, saying it was “time for people to work for their country.”
He said Afghans crowding the airport in the hope of boarding flights had nothing to fear and should go home.
The BBC quoted Mujahid as saying Afghans would no longer be allowed to travel to the airport in Kabul.
The BBC and other media outlets also reported Afghans trying to get to Kabul airport on Tuesday and Wednesday were being stopped at checkpoints.
Despite the Taliban’s vows that they would not retaliate, they have been searching for people who worked with the US or NATO in “targeted door-to-door visits,” according to a UN document reviewed by multiple sources. Journalists have also been targeted, according to the UN and media reports.
But Mujahid said those who worked with the US or other countries would be safe in Afghanistan: “We have forgotten everything in the past.”
“There is no list,” he added, of Afghans who worked with Western troops. “We are not following anybody.”
PIA says Kabul operation on hold over Taliban restriction on Afghans leaving
https://arab.news/bfjnz
PIA says Kabul operation on hold over Taliban restriction on Afghans leaving
- It is “time for people to work for their country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters on Tuesday
- Pakistan has refused to admit Afghan refugees, so far helped evacuate almost 1,500 people from Afghanistan
Pakistan’s Sindh orders inquiry after clashes at Imran Khan party rally in Karachi
- Khan’s PTI party accuses police of shelling to disperse its protesters, placing hurdles to hinder rally in Karachi
- Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah vows all those found guilty in the inquiry will be punished
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has ordered an inquiry into clashes that took place between police and supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Karachi on Sunday, as it held a rally to demand his release from prison.
The provincial government had granted PTI permission to hold a public gathering at Karachi’s Bagh-i-Jinnah Park and had also welcomed Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan’s party is in power, when he arrived in the city last week. However, the PTI cited a delay in receiving a permit and announced a last-minute change to a gate of Mazar-i-Quaid, the mausoleum of the nation’s founder.
Despite the change, PTI supporters congregated at the originally advertised venue. PTI officials claimed the party faced obstacles in reaching the venue and that its supporters were met with police intervention. Footage of police officers arresting Khan supporters in Karachi were shared widely on social media platforms.
“A complete inquiry is being held and whoever is found guilty in this, he will be punished,” Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said while speaking to a local news channel on Sunday.
Shah said the PTI had sought permission to hold its rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi from the Sindh government, even though the venue’s administration falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
He said problems arose when the no objection certificate to hold the rally was delayed for a few hours and the party announced it would hold the rally “on the road.”
The rally took place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated since August 2023, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases.
