Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Dr Aisha Farooqi on Sunday said that Pakistani embassies across the globe were working tirelessly to accommodate overseas Pakistanis amid the global coronavirus outbreak.
In a conversation with a local media outlet, she said that Pakistan’s embassies are stretched across the globe in over 100 countries and due to the sheer number of overseas Pakistani’s some difficulties may have come up.
Aisha also entailed that if the working of Pakistan government and embassies is broken down into prioritised phases then the first priority was given to stranded Pakistanis at various airports in the world, after that the next priority was given to low and mid-range earning Pakistanis in foreign lands.
She said that phone lines at embassy were jammed for a while because of the influx of calls being received during these testing times. She urged people to remain patient.
The FO spokesperson also said that the embassies are helping overseas Pakistanis with their repatriation, visa extensions and are also giving monetary support to people.
She said that a large number of Pakistanis are residents in Gulf countries and are mostly from the labour class. They are low on funds and income as businesses across the world suffer suspensions due to coronavirus. She added.
She also revealed that people who have no place to go in foreign countries are being given temporary living arrangements in various hotels till the threat of the virus subsides.
