Nawaz orders evacuation of Pakistanis stranded in Yemen

E-Paper | October 13, 2026

Nawaz orders evacuation of Pakistanis stranded in Yemen

Irfan Haider Published March 27, 2015

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday ordered the Pakistani mission in Yemen to take steps for the immediate evacuation of stranded Pakistani families in the troubled country.

According to a statement from the PM House, these instructions were issued keeping in view the deteriorating law and order environment in Yemen.

Also read: Threat to S Arabia will evoke strong reaction from Pakistan: Nawaz

Nawaz said people living in Yemen are vulnerable to all sorts of crimes including kidnapping as the state system there has collapsed.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam had said on Thursday that the Pakistani mission in Yemen has been placed on alert and has been asked to keep in touch with the Pakistan community residing there.

"The Pakistani community has been asked to be ready for possible evacuation," she had said.

Earlier, Nawaz Sharif asserted that any threat to Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan.

The statement came while Nawaz was chairing a high-level meeting at the PM House to discuss recent developments in the Middle East and to examine Saudi Arabia's request that Pakistan join the Gulf-led operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Asif elucidated Pakistan's role in the Yemen conflict, saying that no decision to participate has been taken and that Pakistan has only pledged to safeguard the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

He stressed on Pakistan's role as a "facilitator" to end conflicts in the Muslim world.

"Instead of aggravating the situation by participating in it, Pakistan should do what it can to prevent it ─ for the alliance and unity of the Muslim world," the defence minister said. "Pakistan is ready to adopt whatever role is needed in order to facilitate the termination of conflicts in the Islamic world."

Also read: Saudi Arabia, allies launch air strikes against Houthis in Yemen

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched military operations including air strikes in Yemen on Thursday, Saudi officials said, to counter Iran-backed forces besieging the southern city of Aden, where the US-supported Yemeni president had taken refuge.

Gulf broadcaster al-Arabiya TV reported that the kingdom was contributing as many as 150,000 troops and 100 warplanes to the operations and that allies Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Pakistan were ready to take part in a ground offensive in Yemen.

Pakistan

Achakzai draws Balochistan parallel as he flays Centre over governor's rule in KP

4 men killed in landmine explosion near LoC in Azad Kashmir

High-level Brazil delegation meets CDF Munir; both sides agree to bolster military collaboration

A Pakistani

Mar 27, 2015 11:50pm

I hope this is a genuine call. Otherwise our so called “friends” don’t care

Recommend 0

Mar 27, 2015 11:58pm

First step to get involved.

Recommend 0

woody

Mar 28, 2015 12:11am

When the American's announce a withdrawal from a country - most other countries take notice as setup contingency plans to evacuate their diplomats and citizens. Once again Pakistan is slow to respond. Lets hope your embassy has the ability to coordinate with Pakistani expats - lets hope that Pakistan govt knows the airports aren't open so they need to send ships.

Recommend 0

Awais Ali

Mar 28, 2015 12:16am

Please don,t involve us in other,s war otherwise our next generations will keep cringing and will keep cursing us.

Recommend 0

Awais Ali

Mar 28, 2015 12:24am

IK said a wonderful statement in this regard "One is our neighbor(Iran) and other is our best friend(SA) who we can take one side?" PM please listen him he is right.

Recommend 0

Pakistani

Mar 28, 2015 01:09am

NS doesn't need to show his presence in everything. This is a job of the foreign ministry...... Yes stay away from brother killing brothers also. But Rather try to help them resolve issues. Let any side rule the country, we are all one under our belief :)

Recommend 0

Sick

Mar 28, 2015 01:29am

Pakistanis are very safe in Pakistan. yes

Recommend 0

muhammed ahmed khan

Mar 28, 2015 01:39am

Dont forget lot of shia are living and they are already feeling insecure due to our tendency towards Kingdom of Saudi Arab.

Recommend 0

sudhakar

Mar 28, 2015 01:42am

If even Pakistan is considering evacuating it's citizens, then that should mean pretty bad conditions in Yemen.

Recommend 0

Adnan

Mar 28, 2015 01:42am

We should try to make peace between Muslim ummah, instead taking part in war ourself.

Recommend 0

Tahir

Mar 28, 2015 01:57am

It does not mean it cares about Pakistanis. It means Pakistan started playing the role it played in Afghanistan. Shameful and people will see the result after couple of years.

Recommend 0

Asim

Mar 28, 2015 01:59am

half the problem is the muslim world are caused by Sauidis anyways, plus generally Saudis dont like Pakistanis...let them deal with their own mess...as if we dont have our own mess to take care of.

Recommend 0

Asim

Mar 28, 2015 02:00am

Nawaz sharif owes Sauid big time for saving his behind in 1998...so he may do dumb things to make Saudis happy

Recommend 0

adi

Mar 28, 2015 02:20am

india completely supports pak military involvement to help their arab brothers

Recommend 0

adi

Mar 28, 2015 02:22am

@Awais Ali choose both sides, business as usual

Recommend 0

Common man

Mar 28, 2015 02:40am

Another sensible step by PM

Recommend 0

Ghaznavi

Mar 28, 2015 02:42am

Where was our foreign ministry or minister when this conflict was brewing? Why they did not anticipate this ackward situation where if we say No to Saudi Arabia we loose a reliable friend and if agree we end up creating another hostile neighbor i.e. Iran. While this conflict was brewing we should have been making efforts to diffuse it. Our role as mediator would have positioned us in a spot where neither party could have approached us for taking sides.

Recommend 0

Imran Altaf

Mar 28, 2015 03:24am

All talk as usual.

Recommend 0

Joe FL

Mar 28, 2015 03:33am

@Awais Ali: 'IK said a wonderful statement in this regard "One is our neighbor(Iran) and other is our best friend(SA) who we can take one side?"' Translation: We don't see any moral difference. There is a Shia-Sunni conflict, where one nation backs an armed force to overthrow a government while another nation supplies an armed force to support that government. Then, whoever wins, we will be able to say that force was morally right. Leadership is more comfortable that way.

Recommend 0

Haider Rehman

Mar 28, 2015 03:35am

PM please listen to IK for once. Dont get involved in proxy wars.

Recommend 0

Mar 28, 2015 04:14am

@woody U r right, but our PM was busy sorting out domestic politics before

Recommend 0

noor

Mar 28, 2015 05:17am

Nawaz,pay a visit to both saudia and yemen and after listening both side try your best to resolve the issue without further bloodshed.

Recommend 0

Mar 28, 2015 05:21am

Let the Arabs fight it out. Once they're done and devastated Pakistan and Turkey can go and take over their oil fields. Atleast that's what the American and their hunting packs are going to do.

Recommend 0

Urooj Saifi

Mar 28, 2015 05:43am

@woody completely agree. Usually the agency I work for is the last one to evacuate and it has already happened yesterday from Sana'a, Aden and other parts of the country. I don't know what our citizens are still doing there?

Recommend 0

Kepler-09B

Mar 28, 2015 07:44am

11th hour attempt - like always.

Recommend 0

Zak

Mar 28, 2015 08:01am

How, the conflict has started. Perhaps by arranging buses to Saudi border then flight back.

Recommend 0

Kobe

Mar 28, 2015 09:30am

When you will evacuate Pakistanis from Pakistan? Conditions aren't too good there either.

Recommend 0

SYEDAKHTAR SHAH

Mar 28, 2015 11:59am

Pakistan should play their entire rule only for peace and should not take part in the war.

Recommend 0

Indian

Mar 28, 2015 12:17pm

Pakistan should join SA in Yemen war which will bring good money to Pakistan. Pakistan should try to get more money from these gulf countries who have unused money in their banks.

Recommend 0

suresh

Mar 28, 2015 12:42pm

Pakistan is like a super power with nukes and every country wants its support.

Recommend 0

shahzaib

Mar 28, 2015 01:12pm

@Pakistani Pakistanis Politicians make us realize that they are doing everything, not the departments. The response was already too late. We are busy planning mega projects (not caring about basic needs of life in cities).

Recommend 0

Mar 28, 2015 01:19pm

When the government issues statement like the one PM gave, they don't realize how it would be for the expat community living there. Any kidnapping, killings of the expats there would be on the government's shoulders. Highly irresponsible statement at this time.

Recommend 0

zash

Mar 28, 2015 06:50pm

We must not take part in any new war and our gov has confirmed it that Pakistan will not take part. We Muslims are one no body can separate us. We must be a peace representative in Muslim ummah

Recommend 0