ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has evacuated over 600 students from Kyrgyzstan following last week’s violent clashes in the central Asian country, as another flight with 170 students arrived in Lahore on Monday morning.
Videos of a brawl between Kyrgyz and Egyptian students went viral on social media last week, prompting frenzied mobs to target hostels of medical universities and private lodgings of international students, including Pakistanis, in the city.
Pakistan has since then ramped efforts to repatriate its students from the city, dispatching commercial and special flights to the country. According to official statistics, around 10,000 Pakistani students are enrolled in various educational institutions in Kyrgyzstan, with nearly 6,000 residing and studying in Bishkek. Foreign Minister Dar on Sunday confirmed no Pakistani had died in the clashes.
The first batch of around 130 Pakistani students from Kyrgyzstan arrived in the eastern city of Lahore late Saturday night. On Sunday, a flight carrying 140 Pakistani students from Kyrgyzstan arrived in Islamabad and was received by Federal Minister of Petroleum Musadik Malik. Another flight arrived at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on Sunday night with 175 Pakistani students from Bishkek.
Information Minister Ataullah Tarar on Monday welcomed another batch of 170 Pakistani students who arrived in Lahore from Kyrgyzstan.
“There was a lot of fear among our students as there were a lot of tensions [in Kyrgyzstan],” Tarar told reporters at the airport. “Whatever we can do for these students, we will do.”
The minister once again rejected media reports that a Pakistani female student had been raped or killed.
“Thank God neither a Pakistani girl was raped nor was any student killed,” he said, adding that a special flight was on its way with injured Pakistani students and their families.
Pakistan’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Hasan Zaigham said on Saturday that five Pakistani medical students had been injured in the mob attack. One student was admitted to a local hospital with a jaw injury, while the other four were released after receiving first aid.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it had summoned and handed a note of protest to Kyrgyzstan’s top diplomat in the country in response to violence against Pakistani students in Bishkek.
