March 19, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 15, 1424

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KUWAIT CITY, March 18: Pakistan’s national airline said on Tuesday it had prepared a contingency plan to evacuate thousands of Pakistanis from the Gulf in the event of war in Iraq.

A message received from PIA head office at its local office here said that PIA has activated its contingency plan to evacuate Pakistanis from Kuwait on a short notice, in case the situation worsens.

PIA country manager Khalid Latif confirmed to Dawn that he did receive a message from the head office, stating that PIA was ready to act on a short notice to evacuate Pakistanis from Kuwait.

“The message said that PIA has already put into action its contingency plan, and would be waiting for a signal from Kuwait office for evacuation of Pakistanis if the situation gets out of control”, Mr Khalid added.

Mr Khalid said if the war breaks out, a detailed assessment will be made on the situation and the head office will be informed accordingly.

“In case of war, we would study the situation and if the necessity arise to evacuate Pakistanis, we would inform the head office accordingly”, Mr Khalid added.

Mr Khalid also informed that he had a detailed meeting with the Kuwait Civil Aviation Authorities and was assured that during war time the Kuwait only airport would not be close.

Khalid Latif said that beside PIA normal flights, he had also requested two Jumbo flights, which would operate in the next two days, as the number of passengers suddenly increased after US ultimatum of 48 hours to Saddam Hussain. He said more than 1,000 Pakistanis would be flown back to Pakistan in the next two days.

Mr Latif said: PIA had aircraft available and if asked could start the evacuation on short notice. The aircraft can be deployed for any such operation as it had already completed a massive Haj operation, AFP adds