The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced the schedule for the next phase of bringing Pakistanis back stranded in other countries.

The Airline will operate nine flights during the four-day schedule which will start on April 18 (Saturday) and will end on April 21.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui the next phase of repatriation of stranded Pakistan will see nine more special flights bringing back 2,000 Pakistani nationals including 474 from Saudi Arabia mostly Umrah pilgrims, 271 from Oman and 634 from the United Arab Emirates, 270 from Japan and Thailand, 225 from Indonesia.

The special flights will land at the airports of Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Faisalabad.

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Aisha Farooqui said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its embassies and missions had launched a robust and round-the-clock outreach initiative to provide the overseas communities relief and assistance including food ration.

She said approximately 43,000 Pakistanis in different countries had desired to be brought back to Pakistan for which a comprehensive and phased repatriation plan from different countries was underway. “So far 2,287 stranded Pakistanis have been repatriated through 12 special PIA flights from Doha, Dubai, Bangkok, Istanbul, London, Baku, Tashkent, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur,” she said.

The spokesperson thanked the collaborating agencies of host governments for their cooperation in the safe and smooth return of Pakistani nationals.