With the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring a global emergency over the spreading coronavirus, as Chinese authorities increase the toll to 213 dead and nearly 10,000 infections, trade between Pakistan and China has been suspended while opposition demands bringing back Pakistanis stuck in China.
According to reports, while it was also decided that all Chinese imports will be sprayed with disinfectants, Pakistan on Friday suspended flight operations — except those of Pakistan Internation Airlines (PIA) — to the neighbouring country.
TRADE SUSPENDED:
According to a statement, trade has been suspended between the two countries for at least a month, while the issuance of Chinese visas to traders has also been halted.
The volume of trade between the two countries is around $15 billion — around 30 per cent of Pakistan’s total trade — and the country is now mulling to import goods from other countries instead, a report said.
Also, the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) will quarantine the Chinese and Southeast Asian ship personnel, its chairperson, Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar, said. He added the containers, especially those arriving from China and Southeast Asia, would be thoroughly checked, and that special care would be taken to ensure that the staff on these ships remained limited to the port only.
NO FLIGHTS TO OR FROM CHINA:
“We are suspending flights to China until February 2,” Aviation Additional Secretary Abdul Sattar Khokhar told Reuters, adding the situation would be reviewed after that date. He declined to comment on the reason for the closure.
Some airlines, including British Airways, have suspended flights to China due to warnings of the coronavirus outbreak. Germany, Britain and other countries have issued warnings about travel to China.
Russia also sealed its remote far-eastern border with China as a precaution on Thursday. Some countries have banned entry for travellers from Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the virus first surfaced, while reports said that PIA would continue to operate between the two countries.
OPPOSITION WANTS STUDENTS RESCUED:
Meanwhile, opposition leaders have demanded that the government take responsibility of the Pakistani students stuck in China, and bring them back to the country.
Reports quoted Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Usman Kakar as saying in the Senate that over 28,000 Pakistanis, 10,000 of which are students, were stuck in China, and the government’s decision to not bring them back was no less than “attempted murder”.
While Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mushahidullah said that the government should take responsibility of the students stranded in China, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Rehman Malik said that military’s C-130 aircraft should be sent to rescue them
‘WE’RE MONITORING SITUATION’:
The Pakistani government is monitoring the situation in China and is in close contact with the relevant authorities in order to ensure the safety of Pakistani students in Wuhan, said the Foreign Office on the other hand.
“Islamabad has taken up the issue of food shortages with concerned officials and we are assured by the Chinese government of full cooperation in this regard,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Aaisha Farooqui said at a press briefing.
In response to questions about the evacuation of Pakistani citizens from Wuhan, the spokesperson said, “Islamabad is monitoring the evolving situation and will take a decision after consultations among all the stakeholders.”
