DUBAI: As the UAE plans to take measures against countries that do not evacuate their nationals from its soil amid the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan is set to put in place standard operating procedures for its returning citizens, the country’s ambassador to the UAE told Arab News on Monday.
“The government is working out a plan to quarantine the returning passengers and we hope to get confirmation soon, which will be announced accordingly,” Ambassador Ghulam Dastgir said.
He said the UAE government had shown readiness to carry out COVID-19 tests at airports for those leaving the country. “Right now, the priority of all governments is to stop the spread of COVID-19, and that is why the Pakistan government is also setting up SOPs,” he said.
On Sunday, the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization said it was considering several options to restructure its cooperation and labor relations with countries refusing to receive their nationals working in its private sector.
According to the Emirates News Agency, the options include restrictions on the recruitment of workers from these countries and suspending agreements the ministry has signed with their governments.
The measures are being considered after many countries refused to receive their citizens wishing to go back home in light of the current public health crisis.
A video that went viral last week showed hundreds of Pakistanis protesting outside their Dubai consulate, demanding to be sent back home.
“We don’t want rations … we want to go back home,” says a man in the video while the consul general attempts to pacify the crowd.
Over 20,000 Pakistanis have registered their willingness to return, according to Dastgir. “Of these, at least 10,000 might be those on travel visas. Although these might not be accurate numbers, they give an idea,” he said.
As the ambassador remains in touch over the issue with UAE and Pakistani authorities, he said that nationals stuck at UAE airports were the first priority. On March 23, hundreds of Pakistanis stranded at Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports were already taken back home on special flights to Islamabad.
In a Twitter post on Monday, the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis said it was working on increasing the bandwidth of flights with the UAE and Saudi Arabia on an urgent basis.
The Federal Ombudsman’s grievance commissioner for overseas Pakistanis, Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, said on Sunday that complaints of stranded nationals were coming to his office from a number of countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, South Africa, Indonesia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Australia, France, and Spain.
