Delays, poor coordination, and lax attitude, added to the lack of emergency preparedness by the Islamabad government, caused huge inconvenience to millions of Pakistanis stranded in the war-stricken Gulf region. While Pakistan did carry out air-evacuation, the bureaucratic mismanagement and apathy of the civilian government and influential army left the affected overseas population clueless and helpless. All these fetched strong reactions from the Pakistani people.
Abdul Malick from Pakistan’s Jamshoro said he was “disappointed” as the Pakistan government neither provided any financial support nor facilitated such assistance from the UAE after his nephew, Muzaffar Ali, was killed in Dubai in retaliatory Iranian strikes. Over 5.5 million Pakistani labourers work in the Gulf send about 54 percent of the total remittances the country receives, supporting the livelihoods of a significant population in the country.
Despite migrants sending remittances back home, the government and powerful army did not do anything to rescue the stranded Pakistanis, said Zeshan Mohmand on X. “Pakistanis are facing troubles in Arab Countries. Millions of Pakistanis work in Arab countries, sending nearly 10 billion dollars to Pakistan!!” he said.“But in a war-like environment, Pakistani embassies there don't even respond to Pakistanis!! Asim Munir has destroyed every institution!!
A migrant named Jami Khan blamed the Pakistan government for ignoring them, leaving them to fend for themselves. “Even our embassy isn't supporting us. We are in very difficult circumstances here. We want to leave from here. The government isn't doing anything for us, even though the Indian government is evacuating its own citizens from Gulf countries at its own expense,” he said.
Over 35,000 Pakistanis were In Iran when the US carried out attacks at the end of February. As there was neither official communication from the Islamabad government or the Embassy in Tehran nor pre-planned evacuation plan, most of these Pakistani people travelled toward the border at their own risk. Instead of launching evacuation programme, Islamabad counted the challenges. As you know there is no internet in most parts of Iran,"said Mudassir Tipu, Pakistan's ambassador to Tehran.
After a week, Islamabad announced how it was facilitating diplomatic efforts to help the stranded Pakistanis. However, there were no attempts made to evacuate them. “Our crisis management unit is operational 24 hours to facilitate the stranded Pakistanis,” said Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, leaving them at the mercy of Gulf countries for their safety and return to home.
Shockingly, the foreign ministry told a Parliamentary committee that there was no need to evacuate the stranded Pakistani people from Gulf countries. Reacting to the lax attitude, member of the committee Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto asked “If everything is normal, why is evacuation being discussed? At least take a clear position on whether the situation is fine.” To add insult to injury, the Pakistani Embassy in Abu Dhabi suspended in-person consular services, making things more difficult for the stranded fellow citizens.
Thousands of Pakistanis including students and pilgrims stranded at airports, hotels or their residential places in Doha, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai faced growing uncertainty over their evacuation. Asif Ahmed from Lahore was stuck in Dubai. He said marooned Pakistanis were losing hope as accommodation became difficult and their money was running out.“There is fear. Not of the war, because we are far from where the missiles are, but of uncertainty. We don’t know when we will reunite with our families,” Ahmed said.
Islamabad did not send any military plane to evacuate its citizens from the war zones. This compelled stranded people to take longer, tedious and risky road routes to escape conflict areas and reach Pakistan. Even those who could take commercial flights faced huge inconvenience as the state airliner Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) increased fares manifold, raising serious concerns. Airport closures and the uncertainty is killing us,” said Bilal Ehsan, who was stuck in Abu Dhabi.
