Senator Talha Mehmood has called upon Federal government to send a special plane to airlift stranded Pakistanis from Bangkok, due to closure of Bangkok international airport for the last one week.
"If Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani send a special plane to airlift Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, then why not for over 150 Pakistanis, who are taxpayers and paying for the luxuries of rulers", Talha Mehmood said, while talking to Business Recorder on Monday.
More than 150 Pakistani nationals, including children and women, are stranded at Bangkok airport and their passports are lying with the Thai Immigration, Talha Mehmood said. He said that Pakistan Embassy in Bangkok had failed to provide any relief to these stranded Pakistanis, while other countries took immediate measures to get their people out of Bangkok.
Senator Talha said it was sad and pathetic to note that Pakistani Embassy in Bangkok took only one National Assembly member to the embassy, while the remaining Pakistanis were left at the mercy of Thai Immigration, which was not co-operating with the stranded passengers, he said, regretting that the MNA, described as VVIP, was provided help by the Pakistani Embassy staff, who did not bother to attend to helpless common Pakistanis.
He said that it was responsibility of the government to protect the life, honour and property of people. But due to non-co-operation from the government functionaries, people had lost their trust on the government, he said. He called upon the government to take immediate steps to help stranded Pakistanis to regain the confidence of masses on system.
Meanwhile, President of Pakistan Tax Bar Association Naveed A Andarabi told this scribe on telephone from Bangkok on Monday that the situation was getting worse for Pakistanis. The army airport of Bangkok has been cleared for international flights to take foreigners out of the country on 24 hours basis. The airport has been used to take Europeans and other foreign nationals to ensure safe exist from Thailand.
Similarly, the Indian Embassy in Bangkok has also managed to arrange a daily flight to New Delhi to facilitate the Indian passengers. On the other hand, the Pakistan Embassy in Bangkok has still not done anything for the Pakistanis, including old citizens, children and women, waiting desperately for help from Pakistan.
The luggage and passports are still with the Thai Immigration, who would only respond to the Pakistan Embassy in Bangkok. But, the embassy is not ready to take up the matter with the Thai Immigration Department due to unknown reason. The Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok is giving visas in 30 minutes to every applicant to all the applicants to ensure safe exit of foreigners from Thailand.
But the Pakistanis could not avail of this facility. Some Pakistanis, having valid Thai visas, have decided to go to Malaysia via road. The journey by road is over 38-hour long covering areas where war is going on between the militants and Thai army. Unless or until the Pakistan Embassy in Bangkok does not intervene, it would not be possible to obtain passports from the Thai Immigration, he added.