ISLAMABAD: A chartered plane of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Boeing-777, returned here in the early hours of Wednesday from Poland, carrying 230 Pakistanis stranded in Ukraine following the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood, Ambassador of Poland to Pakistan Maciej Pisarski along with wife Justyna Maria Pisarski, and PIA officials received the evacuated Pakistanis at the airport.
Polish Ambassador after greeting the students told APP; “We as the embassy are very happy that the students have returned home safe and reunited with their families. We are here to show solidarity with the parents and share their pain as they were worried for the safety of their children.”
Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood thanked the government of Poland and said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassies of Pakistan were working hard for the evacuation of Pakistanis stuck in Ukraine.
The flight was a special initiative taken by the government of Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he added.
The Islamabad International Airport (IIAP) echoed with the slogans of Pakistan Zindabad (Long Live) and the PIA Zindabad raised by the passengers as they came out of the special flight.
Emotional scenes were witnessed when the repatriated Pakistanis, most students, touched the country’s soil with wet eyes.
Students were happy to finally arrive at their homeland and reunite with their families.
Wajeeha, from Nowshehra, said that they were looked after and facilitated well by the Pakistani embassy in Poland but the embassy in Ukraine left them helpless. She said,”We had to walk 40 km to reach the border of Poland, and the temperature was -5 degree celcius.”
On the occasion, the parents thanked the government for rescuing their children.
