KYIV – Hundreds of Pakistani students stranded in Ukraine have requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to take steps for their safe evacuations as Russia launched a military operation in its neighbouring country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the attack on Ukraine when Imran Khan was in Moscow to hold a meeting with Putin to discuss the bilateral relations between the two countries.
A video circulating on social media shows the helpless Pakistani students waiting for help at a metro station in a war zone.
Gulraiz Khan, a Pakistani student enrolled in Kharkiv National Medical University, said that no official from the embassy has contacted them, adding: “No one is listening to our concerns”.
He said that Pakistani students are forced to take shelter at metro stations as universities have instructed them to leave the rooms.
Another student can be heard asking the Pakistani government and its premier to make arrangements for their evacuation on a priority basis.
Another student named Asad said that officials of the Pakistani embassy in Ukraine are not even attending the phone call, saying: “Embassy and Ambassador are not helping us in ongoing war”.
He said that the statements issued by the ambassador Dr Noel Israel Khokhar about evacuation are contrary to facts.
Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Ukraine Dr Noel I. Khokhar asked the students to stay at their universities and carry on with their studies despite warnings by Western countries that Russia could launch military operation in its neighbouring state anytime.
Meanwhile, Dr Noel Israel Khokhar in a statement on Thursday said that the government is working on the safe evacuation of all the Pakistanis stranded in Ukraine after the attacks launched by Russia.
The envoy said that overall 1,500 Pakistanis, including 500 students, are present in Ukraine who have been directed to move to safe locations.
Pakistan Embassy in Ukraine, in a tweet, said that the embassy was fully functional from Ternopil.
