By Our Diplomatic Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday announced wrapping up the evacuation operation of Pakistanis stranded in Sudan, saying over 1,000 citizens had been safely evacuated from the war-hit African country.
It also thanked Saudi Arabia and China for their assistance in repatriating Pakistani citizens stranded in the conflict zone.
According to the FO statement, the operation was successful, with over 1,000 citizens safely evacuated from the war-torn African country. “By Allah’s grace and tireless efforts of our embassy in Khartoum led by Amb Regi, supported by Saudi Arabia and China and our teams in Jeddah and Islamabad, we have successfully & safely evacuated over 1,000 Pakistanis out of Sudan. With this our evacuation operations out of Sudan have ended,” the FO said in a tweet.
Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan specified in a separate tweet that the number of Pakistanis taken out of Sudan was 1,025. He also said repatriations from Jeddah would continue until the “last Pakistani is eventually brought back”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif commended the FO for the successful evacuation effort.
“Given the prevailing conditions there, it was certainly a herculean task which was made possible due to timely & coordinated response,” he said.
The prime minister also expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia and China for their “crucial help” in the evacuations.
Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sajjid Hussain Turi had on Monday said the government bore all expenses to bring back citizens home.
