By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: All the Pakistanis stranded in Europe and the Middle East will be brought back to the country by 20th of this month, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan informed the National Assembly on Friday.
Speaking in the lower house of Parliament, he said PIA has been operating special flights to bring home Pakistanis stuck in European and Middle Eastern countries. Thus far, 54,116 stranded Pakistanis have been brought to the country in a dignified manner, the minister said, adding those in Europe and the UK were also being flown in through chartered flights.
Khan said overseas Pakistanis are the country’s precious asset and contribute immensely to the country’s economy. Their remittances reached $29 billion during the last fiscal year, he pointed out.
Earlier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had announced to repatriate Pakistani citizens stranded in different countries within a week. Spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez in a statement said arrangements have been finalised to repatriate the stranded Pakistani citizens and added that two Boing 777 aircraft were ready to fly to Bahrain.
“The airline will bring back thousands of stranded Pakistanis within a week,” the spokesperson said.
Besides, while responding to a calling attention notice, Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said several projects have been initiated in different cities under Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme to provide low cost houses to the common man.
Construction of 45 thousand housing units is underway and work on them will be completed in eighteen months’ time, he added. Babar Awan said loans on low interest rates are also being provided to the people to construct houses. He said the banks have so far received 33506 loan applications amounting to 110 billion rupees. He said loans worth 35 billion rupees have been approved.
Parliamentary Secretary for Defense Malik Anwar Taj laid before the house the Pakistan Maritime Zones Bill, 2021. The opposition parties staged a walk out from the house for not agreeing to their suggestion to delay the board exams.
