ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Friday that 509 Pakistanis stranded in Libya because of conflict there had been brought back.

An update on efforts for evacuation of Pakistanis from the strife-torn country said that another 2,000 had been evacuated through land routes to neighbouring countries.

The government’s evacuation operation began earlier this month at a time when other countries had almost completed removing their nationals from Libya.

The FO that had initially said that there could be up to 6,000 Pakistanis in Libya revised its estimate on Friday, saying the size of Pakistani expatriate community could be up to 18,000. At least 1,200 Pakistanis are reportedly housed in a relief camp set up by the Pakistani embassy in Tripoli.

“A number of additional flights are being organised to evacuate thousands of stranded Pakistanis in Libya,” the FO said in a statement.

“At a time when the security situation in Libya has deteriorated sharply and many essential services have become dysfunctional, conducting this massive operation has been a formidable task,” it added.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2014