WASHINGTON: Pakistan would allow some airlines to take back stranded Pakistanis despite a restriction on international flights to the country, Zulfi Bukhari said on Saturday.

At an electronic news conference with US-based journalists, the prime minister’s adviser for overseas Pakistanis also said that the government would facilitate the burial in Pakistan of those who died abroad during the coronavirus pandemic.

There are more than 100 Pakistanis among almost 40,000 who have died of this deadly virus in the United States since late January. More than 720,000 people have also been infected with this respiratory disease across America.

Mr Bukhari advised Pakistanis stranded in the United States to take Qatar Airways to Doha where the government was making special arrangements for taking them home.

“We are working on various options and a decision is expected soon,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan while addressing the same news briefing.

The Civil Aviation Authority announced in Pakistan earlier on Saturday that international and domestic flights to the country will remain suspended till April 30. It also announced that exceptions have been made for chartered international flights within the limits required to control the spread of Covid-19.

The US has brought more than a thousand stranded Americans from Pakistan, chartering planes from the Egypt Air.

Mr Bukhari said there was a possibility that Washington could now charter PIA planes, but those planes may not be permitted to take back Pakistanis.

“There will be several flights a week from Qatar to Pakistan for stranded Pakistanis,” he said.

The adviser said that pilgrims returning from Iran via Taftan did not spread coronavirus in Pakistan. “Some passengers, returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia, by planes might have been infected but not those who used the Taftan border,” he said.

Mr Bukhari apologised to Pakistani-Americans for the delay in sharing their grief. “The prime minister wanted to, but he could not because we were waiting to authenticate the reports” about Pakistanis dying of the virus in the US, he said. “Now that we know the situation, we are ready to do whatever we can to assist you,” he said.

Pakistan’s Consul General Ayesha Ali told the briefing that the consulate has made arrangements for validating travel and other documents for the Pakistanis stranded here.

She said the consulate would also work with those who wanted to send home the bodies of their loved ones. “Those who need financial assistance for this purpose will also be assisted,” she added.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2020