ISLAMABAD: In an unexpected situation, 15 Pakistanis — nine asylum seekers and six students — have refused to leave Ukraine, according to the Pakistan embassy in the war-hit country.

What makes it even more unusual is the fact that five of the students are girls with the embassy claiming that all these 15 Pakistanis have decided to stay back despite its advice for them to leave the war-battered Ukraine.

The Pakistan embassy also announced in its daily ‘Fact Sheet’ on Saturday that it was making all possible efforts to evacuate 35 Pakistanis who were stuck in a war zone as the country’s conflict with Russia intensified with a lot of casualties being reported on both sides.

The embassy said there were nine Pakistanis in a detention centre and six students in Ivano-Fankivsk and Ternopil who had refused to leave the country.

Embassy says its advice to leave war-battered country has been ignored by some

It said those who were in the Volyn Detention Centre did not want to leave Ukraine, because their asylum cases were under process.

“All other Pakistanis in detention centres have been released and evacuated from Ukraine,” says the statement.

Releasing the names of the six students, the embassy said they were in Ivano-Fankivsk and Ternopil and they “wanted to stay at their own risk despite repeated advice of the mission” to leave Ukraine.

These students are Hira Imran, Shamza Khan, Sumera Akram, Hina Kareem, Saleemur Rehman and Amima Irum Alvi.

However, it said, there were four Pakistani-Ukrainian nationals who wanted to leave Ukraine. They were Kashif Shahzad, Munir Mughal, Muhammad Shafiq and Kamran Younas, it said.

The embassy said it was making efforts to evacuate 35 Pakistanis stuck in Mariupol, Sumy and Kherson through the humanitarian corridor. However, it added, there was no confirmed news about the setting up of the corridor.

According to the embassy, the conflict has intensified and a lot of casualties and losses have been reported on both sides. Since the start of the conflict, it said, two rounds of peace talks had been conducted. It was agreed in the second round to open up a green corridor for evacuating foreigners and supply of medicines and humanitarian aid. “The details will be decided in the third round. After this, we will be able to evacuate Pakistanis stuck in Mariupol, Sumy and Kherson,” it said.

The statement made it clear that no city was safe in Ukraine. “Food and petrol are scarce and Pakistanis and the mission are facing immense difficulties in sustaining themselves,” it said, disclosing that more than one million people had already fled Ukraine since the conflict escalated on Feb 24.

Last night, it said, Zaparozhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) area was under attack and as a result fire broke out in the territory of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. Zaparozhia NPP has now been seized by Russian forces.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2022