After facing criticism on social media for not vacating its people from the epic-center of Coronavirus, China, the Pakistani government on Sunday said that “It is closely monitoring the situation and will make a decision on their evacuation soon.”
Referring to the nationalists who were stuck in Wuhan due to lockdown, Zafar Mirza, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, in its tweet said, “My very dear students in China and your respectable family members, we are intensely discussing the situation at the highest level and will make the best decision in view of all factors with reference to devastating coronavirus potential global pandemic.”
To that, in a reply, Pakistan’s living in China said, “we just need permission. Except for our government and some sick people at least we have some people who have hearts and are trying to help us. Isn’t it against the law that you are stopping us to return to our country?.”
“Dear sir, if you care about us then please spend at least one day with us in Wuhan, China at least one day. Please after this we will never say to evacuate us. Please consider my suggestion thanks,” the second user tweeted.
Speaking with Pakistan’s national newspaper the Dawn, Mira, said, “All the options were on the table and the government wanted to keep a balance on the issue.”
“We have to consider all the aspects including the situation of Pakistanis in China, Chinese regulations and advisories of the World Health Organization (WHO). All the stakeholders are involved over the issue and we have kept all the options open,” he told the newspaper.
“There are some people in China who wanted to return but there is some large number of nationalists too who said that they don’t want to come back. I have a video of it,” Media Coordinator for the Ministry of National Health Services, Sajid Shah, further added.
So far, the death toll due to the novel coronavirus is at 915, and over 48,000 confirmed cases have been registered.
