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ISLAMABAD, June 1: The United Nations said on Saturday it would evacuate dependents of its foreign staff in Pakistan and India because of fears of war.
Following the lead of the United Nations warning, a series of European governments too urged their nationals to pull out and steer clear of the Sub-continent.
France, Denmark, Portugal and Belgium all issued formal warnings to their nationals not to travel to the two countries. Israel has also advised its citizens in India to leave the country.
A UN official in Islamabad said the world body’s headquarters in New York ordered the evacuation, but he declined to say how many people would be pulled out.
Another UN source said the number could be in the hundreds.
“It applies to all dependents of U.N. expatriates residing in Pakistan,” said Onder Yucer, Resident Coordinator of the U.N. System’s Operational Activities for Development.
He later said the decision also applied to dependents of U.N. staff in India.
The United States, Britain, Germany and several other Western nations had on Friday urged tens of thousands of their citizens to leave Pakistan and India and offered their diplomats passage home — part of what appeared to be a concerted effort to impress upon the two governments the perils of war that could lead to nuclear catastrophe.
Yucer said the U.N. was looking at “different options...which are changing from hour to hour” on transporting the dependents.
Senior U.N. officials met in Islamabad on Saturday morning to discuss the evacuation plans, a U.N. source said.
The United States, Britain and other Western countries have already reduced diplomatic staff in Pakistan and urged expatriates to leave.
EUROPEAN STATES: The French foreign ministry said in a statement “families and French nationals whose presence is not essential should voluntarily leave the country”.
A similar advice was given on May 24 to French nationals in Pakistan.
The Belgian government said its advice was given “in the light of the increased tension and the increased risk of fighting”.
Germany on Friday advised its citizens to leave India but decided to leave its diplomats in place.
“The departure of the families of Germany’s representatives in India is recommended,” said the German foreign affairs ministry. “But the work of the embassy and the consulates will not be affected.”
And Portugal’s foreign ministry urged its diplomats and their families to “organize their withdrawal” from Pakistan and India, saying it had already drawn up plans to evacuate citizens living in the two countries.
There are more than 2,500 Portuguese citizens living in India, the vast majority in the tiny one-time Portuguese enclave of Goa.
In Pakistan there are 30 Portuguese citizens registered with the embassy, the foreign ministry said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who has just returned from a three-day peace mission to South Asia, said on Friday families of British diplomats and non-essential staff were being offered the chance to return home.
The foreign office said there were currently no plans to evacuate the estimated 20,000 British nationals from India.—Agencies
