Pakistani students who entered into Poland from Ukraine. Photo courtesy Pakistan Embassy in Poland
Students complain of non-cooperation from embassy staff, as Pakistan urges de-escalation of Russia-Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy
Pakistani students stranded in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of its neighboring state have conveyed their displeasure at the “non-cooperation” of embassy staff in facilitating their evacuation, with several issuing video statements alleging they were forced to walk dozens of miles to reach the border with Poland.
Over the weekend, several videos from Pakistani students in Ukraine went viral on social media, with the youth complaining that they had been used as “photo ops” and did not receive any facilitation from the government. In one such video, a young woman who was studying medicine said that the students had initially been instructed to leave the country on their own expense. After flights were cancelled, she said, they had been instructed to move away from conflict zones and directed to reach Ternopil, where the embassy has been shifted due to ongoing shelling of capital Kyiv.
According to the woman, who requested anonymity over fears of backlash, the students had been informed they had to reach Ternopoil themselves, a dicey proposition considering most public transport has been suspended and the remaining options are overcrowded with Ukrainians trying to flee the conflict. She said that despite all this, they had managed to reach Lyiv, where they were placed on a bus that they were told would drive them to the border with Poland. However, she alleged, the bus driver had refused to drive further after encountering excessive traffic, leaving them with no option but to talk dozens of miles to the border in the hopes of getting evacuated.
“We got no cooperation from the embassy,” she said, adding that no embassy officials had bothered to travel with them on the bus to ensure they reached the border safely.
In response, Pakistan’s embassy in Ukraine said that there had been 3,000 students in the country and a majority had already left the war-torn country. It said efforts were being made to evacuate 600-700 more students.
According to a statement, the embassy said that 411 Pakistanis, including 12 family members of embassy staff, were evacuated on Sunday. It said 143 Pakistanis remained at border posts and 15 at the Lyiv and Ternopil reception desks. Another 101 Pakistanis were on their way to Lyiv from various other cities, including Kharkiv, Poltava and Kyiv, it added.
The embassy claimed that nearly 90 percent evacuation had been completed to “safe zone” areas, adding that it would be completed in the next day or two. The embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are actively engaging the Ukrainian government to expedite the process, it added.
According to the embassy, 358 Pakistanis have been evacuated to Poland; 22 to Romania; six to Slovakia; three to Hungary; and one to Moldova. It said 21 Pakistanis had been brought back to Pakistan.
“The government of Ukraine is dysfunctional, yet the embassy is making all-out efforts to facilitate evacuation of Pakistanis from the country,” it stressed.
Also on Sunday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a telephonic conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, and expressed “serious concerns” over the country’s situation following the Russian invasion. According to an official statement issued by the Foreign Office, Qureshi shared Pakistan’s perspective on the situation and underscored “the importance of de-escalation” as well as “stressing the indispensability of diplomacy.”
It said that the foreign minister had noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan had regretted the conflict during last week’s visit to Moscow, adding that Pakistan hoped diplomacy could avert a military conflict.
Qureshi stressed that conflict was not in anyone’s interest, adding that developing countries were always hit the hardest economically in case of any war. He underlined Pakistan’s belief that disputes should be resolved through “dialogue and diplomacy.”
Per the statement, the foreign minister also took up the matter of evacuation of Pakistani community and students from Ukraine, and their safe return to Pakistan. He appreciated the role played by Ukrainian authorities in the evacuation process.