‘Had Offered All Our Neighbours To Bring Back Their People From China’: EAM Jaishankar On Rescuing Pakistanis

The external affairs minister S Jaishankar has told Rajya Sabha that the Indian government had offered all the neighbouring countries to bring back their citizens stranded in China amidst the Coronavirus crisis.

The statement comes amidst the demands from certain sections to rescue the stranded Pakistanis who have been allegedly cold-shouldered by their government.

Some Pakistani students in China had posted videos on the social media detailing their agony of being stranded amidst the disease outbreak, while their Indian counterparts were evacuated.

After the videos went viral, many on the social media also asked the Indian government to rescue the students.

As per reports, around 800 Pakistanis students are studying in various universities in Wuhan.

“We were prepared to bring back not only our people but also those from all our neighbourhood who would have liked to. This was an offer which was made to all our neighbours but only 7 nationals of Maldives chose to avail the offer,” EAM Jaishankar was quoted as saying by ANI.

Reportedly, Pakistani government had refused to evacuate its citizens in a show of solidarity with China.

In a tweet, Pakistan’s President Dr Arif Alvi had cited prophet of Islam Muhammad’s directions regarding disease outbreaks as a justification for leaving behind its citizens in China.

Meanwhile, the death toll in China has risen to 490 with over 24,000 confirmed cases of infection.