ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Friday dispatched ready-to-eat meal and some everyday use items for about 1,300 Pakistani students stranded in Chinese city of Wuhan because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The NDMA has sent a special plane carrying 17 tonnes of ready-to-eat food to Wuhan which has emerged as the epicentre of novel coronavirus

This decision was taken after some stranded students informed Pakistani officials that they were having difficulty in receiving halal food in Wuhan.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari said that the cooked food was sufficient for 15 days for all the students in Wuhan.

He said the goods included edibles as well as everyday use items.

He tweeted a photo of the supplies that have been sent to Wuhan.

“As promised, Pakistani cooked food rations & supplies for our ppl in Wuhan,Hubei prov have been dispatched. We are under strict instructions from PM @ImranKhanPTI to ensure all students in China are especially taken care of.Thanks to PAF,NDMA &all who came together&made it possible,” he tweeted.

The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development had donated Rs20 million to the NDMA for provision of halal food to the Pakistani students in China.

Stuck between the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Chinese government against evacuation of foreigners from coronavirus-hit China and the growing pressure of parents of the stranded Pakistani students in Wuhan and other parts of China, the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development was directed by the Islamabad High Court in February to arrange a meeting with these parents and brief them about the government’s efforts for facilitation and evacuation of their children from China.

During the briefing, the complete lockdown situation in affected Chinese cities was explained to the parents by Zulfiqar Bokhari and Dr Zafar Altaf. Parents who complained regarding limited access of their children to halal food were assured that the government would take all possible steps to ensure provision of halal food to their children.

Meanwhile, the ministry of foreign affairs and the cabinet division have submitted to the court their respective replies in the petition seeking repatriation of Pakistani citizen stranded in China because of coronavirus.

The court has been informed that the situation in Wuhan is becoming normal.

The parents of Pakistani students enrolled in Chinese universities told the court that the government did not take any step to bring back their children.

The IHC chief justice observed that China was the only country that had overcome the deadly virus.

The court adjourned further hearing in this matter for four weeks.

Malik Asad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2020