ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday held a telephonic discussion with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and expressed “ serious enterprises” over the situation after the Russian irruption of Ukraine and called for de-escalation through dialogue and tactfulness.
According to a sanctioned statement issued by the Foreign Office, Mr. Qureshi during telephonic talk participated in Pakistan’s perspective in detail at the situation, “ emphasizing the significance of de-escalation and stressing the indispensability of tactfulness”.
The foreign minister noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan in his recent visit to Moscow had rued the rearmost situation between Russia and Ukraine and said Pakistan hoped tactfulness could forestall a military conflict.
Mr. Qureshi told the Ukrainian foreign minister that conflict wasn’t in anyone’s interest and that developing countries were always hit the hardest economically in case of a conflict. He underscored Pakistan’s belief that controversies should be resolved through “ dialogue and tactfulness”.
Qureshi phones Ukrainian FM; 411 further Pakistanis vacated from the war-hit country; 21 return home; PIA to operate two special breakouts to Warsaw
Mr. Qureshi also took up the important matter of evacuation of the Pakistani community and scholars in Ukraine and their safe return to Pakistan. He appreciated the part played by the Ukrainian authorities in the evacuation process.
Spoke with Ukrainian FM @DmytroKuleba
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) February 27, 2022
& shared Pakistan’s serious concern, underscoring the imp of de-escalation & indispensability of diplomacy.
Appreciate Ukrainian authorities role in evacuation of Pakistani community/students & look forward to continued & swift facilitation.
Evacuation
According to Pakistan’s delegacy in Ukraine’s capital megacity of Kyiv, there were scholars in Ukraine, and their maturity of them had left the country. It said sweats were being made to void 600-700 further scholars.
As numerous as 411 further Pakistanis, including 12 family members of the delegacy staff, were vacated on Sunday. There were 143 Pakistanis on the border posts and 15 at Lyiv and Ternopil event divisions. Another 101 Pakistanis were on their way to Lyiv from colorful other metropolises, including Kharkiv, Poltava, and Kyiv.
The delegacy claimed that nearly 90 percent evacuation had been completed to the ‘ safe zone’ and the remaining would be completed in a coming couple of days. The delegacy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are laboriously engaging the Ukrainian government to expedite the process.
According to the statistics released by the delegacy, as numerous as 358 Pakistanis were vacated to Poland, 22 to Romania, six to Slovakia, three to Hungary, and one Pakistani to Moldova. The statement said 21 Pakistanis had been brought back to Pakistan.
An earlier statement of the delegacy said that the charge had been furnishing accommodation to the scholars in Ternopil. It said night curfew had been assessed in different metropolises, including Kharkiv, Lyiv, Ternopil, and Kyiv.
It said that presently there was no safe place in Ukraine and indeed metropolises like Lyiv and Ternopil that were in the west of Ukraine had been hit.
“ The government of Ukraine is dysfunctional, yet the delegacy is making each-out sweats to grease evacuation of Pakistanis from the country,” said the statement.
Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was all set to launch an evacuation plan to airlift Pakistani scholar’s standards in Poland.
Speaking at a news conference in Taxila, the minister said the Pakistanis would be airlifted from Warsaw, the capital of Poland, as the wharf on another field near the Poland-Ukraine border wasn’t possible due to specialized reasons. He said Pakistan had originally planned to shoot two special breakouts of Boeing-777 to Warsaw to bring back Pakistanis, substantially scholars.
Pak-UK relations
Foreign Minister Qureshi entered a telephone call from Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister for South Asia, North Africa, the UN, and the Commonwealth at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office on Sunday.
The two sides, according to an FO statement, changed views on Pakistan-UK relations and indigenous and transnational issues of collective interest.
Mr. Qureshi reiterated the significance Pakistan attached to its good relations and close cooperation with the UK and other European mates. He expressed the stopgap that the coming round of strategic dialogue with the UK would take place in the near future.
The two sides reiterated their resoluteness to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of political relations this time.
On the developments in Ukraine, Mr. Qureshi reiterated enterprises at the heightened pressures and military escalation. Lord Ahmad thanked the foreign minister for the detailed exchange and expressed the stopgap that the UK and Pakistan would keep on working together on issues of common interest.
