QUETTA: The Balochistan government has sent 1,652 people, who had returned from Iran, to their respective provinces after their stay in quarantine for 14 days at Taftan, officials of the provincial home department said on Wednesday.

The immigration officials returned passports and other travel documents to them.

“The convoys of pilgrims, students and other people left Taftan in 50 buses amid strict security,” a senior official told Dawn.

Of them 1,230 belonged to Punjab, 232 to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and 190 to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Over 700 pilgrims belonging to Sindh had already left on Tuesday in 18 buses.

The official said more than 2,000 Pakistani were still stranded in Iran and they were waiting at MirJawah for permission to cross into Taftan.

The federal government had closed the Taftan border on Monday last.

Sources said the returning pilgrims will go directly to their provinces and they will not be allowed to stop over anywhere during their journey.

They said 413 people belonging to Balochistan were still in quarantine at Taftan and a decision to take them to their hometowns would be taken in a couple of days.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2020