ISLAMABAD – The European Union (EU) has approached Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for the evacuation of their stranded employees from Afghanistan.
In a letter to PIA CEO and Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, EU envoy to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara has requested a special aircraft for evacuation of members of an EU delegation and their dependents stranded in Kabul on humanitarian grounds.
“At this stage, we would ask for a flight from Kabul airport to Islamabad International Airport for direct further transit to EU through another aircraft made available by EU and evacuation of 420 persons is envisaged, with 251 in the first priority for which a list has been made,” the letter reads.
The ambassador further requested that the passengers would leave the aircraft and stay some days in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also approached Pakistan’s national flag carrier for the safe evacuation of the staff from Kabul.
According to the letter, around 290 passengers would be part of this evacuation, of which 162 would be ADB staff and their families and Afghan nationals and the remaining are Filipino nationals stranded in Afghanistan.
Following the requests, Arshad Malik said that the PIA management is trying to evacuate the foreign nationals from Kabul at the earliest while he mentioned no security arrangements in Kabul.
On Saturday, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had suspended its flight operations for Kabul after evacuating around 2000 people.
