ISLAMABAD: Another 140 Pakistani nationals, women and children among them, were repatriated from Sudan to Pakistan on Sunday, the country’s air force confirmed in a statement.
Several countries, including Pakistan, started evacuation missions to bring back stranded nationals after fierce fighting broke out in the African country a few weeks earlier. Hundreds have been killed as rival military factions in Sudan fight to control the country.
In the wake of the conflict, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed the air force to use its transport fleet to evacuate Pakistani nationals from Sudan. Pakistanis who were stranded in the country were first taken to the Port Sudan city from where they were brought to Jeddah in Saudi naval ships.
“Evacuation missions by Pakistan Air Force to repatriate stranded Pakistanis from war-torn Sudan are in full swing. PAF Airbus carrying 140 fellow countrymen including children and families has landed back at Karachi,” a statement from the PAF spokesperson said.
On Saturday, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) repatriated 97 nationals to Pakistan, taking the total number of repatriated nationals to 357. The latest successful evacuation takes the total number of Pakistanis evacuated from the African country to 497.
The PAF added that it was carrying out the evacuation missions in coordination with Pakistan’s foreign ministry, with a “pledge to fly every single stranded Pakistani from the conflict zone.” Islamabad has said there are an estimated 1,300 Pakistani nationals in Sudan.
Pakistan’s foreign office said on Friday the country’s stranded nationals were evacuated in different phases, the first of which included transporting over 800 Pakistanis from Sudan’s capital Khartoum to Port Sudan city, which it said is “relatively safe.”
It added the second phase of the process involves transporting Pakistani nationals from Port Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia or directly to Pakistan.
Pakistan has thanked Saudi Arabia for transporting its stranded nationals from Port Sudan to Jeddah and for hosting them until they are repatriated to the South Asian country.
