RAWALPINDI: A special Pakistan Interna­tio­nal Airlines (PIA) flight repatriated 107 Pakist­a­nis who were stranded in Iran due to the closure of Iranian airspace, bringing them home early on Wednesday, officials said.

The passengers, unable to return directly due to the airspace closure, travelled by land to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, before bo­­arding PIA’s first special flight PK-9552, which la­­n­ded at Islamabad Inter­national Airport at 3am, a PIA spokesman said.

The special flight was arranged on the instructions of the Pakistani government, the spokesman added.

On arrival in Islam­a­b­­ad, several passengers ex­­pressed gratitude for the government’s swift respo­nse and PIA’s efforts.

107 repatriated on PIA flight from Ashgabat; dozens return via land border

Zulfiqar Ali, 75, who had travelled to Iran to visit his daughter, praised the embassy staff for their support.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Pakistani emb­assy in Iran, devised an alternative route to ensure the safe return of citizens from Mashhad to Ashgabat, officials said.

Students and pilgrims evacuated

Dozens of students and pilgrims evacuated from Iran due to Israeli strikes will be transported to their homes in Pakistan on Wednesday, after arriving a day earlier in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, which borders Iran.

Quetta Commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat said that 545 pilgrims and 207 students arrived in Quetta from Taftan border with Iran and plans are in place to transport them to their hometowns.

“We are trying to have them stay in Quetta tonight. There are some restrictions on movement at night from Quetta,” Mr Shafqaat told Reuters.

“There are law and order concerns on some roads. We want to avoid any unfortunate or untoward incidents.”

Musharraf Abbas, who arrived from Tehran, said he is a student at Iran Uni­versity of Medical Sciences.

“Their [Iran’s] military residences and rooms were about one-and-a-half kilometres from our residence,” he told Reuters.

“They were attacked late Friday night around 3:30pm, in which high-level personnel, including scientists, Revolutio­nary Guards and military leaders, were killed.”

Pakistan has indefini­t­e­ly closed its Panjgur border with Iran due to ri­­sing tensions, as anno­u­nced by the Panjgur district administration on June 15. Meanwhile, the Taftan crossing stays open for repatriation and trade.

Around 214 Pakistani students studying in Iran arrived at Taftan border from Tehran post-Israeli airstrikes, officials reported on Tuesday.

With input from Reuters

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2025