The spread of the deadly Coronavirus is showing no signs of slowing down as Chinese giant Tencent inadvertently revealed the true numbers of the fatalities of Coronavirus in China. Tencent revealed that over 24,000 people are dead and over 1,50,000 people are infected. At such a precarious time, it is only natural that the governments across the world are seeking to safeguard their citizens by evacuating them from China. While Pakistan has refused to evacuate its students to show “solidarity” with China and also because it is against the tents of Islam, the hue and cry of hundreds of Pakistani students have reverberated across the world. As the Imran Khan government continues to turn a blind eye to the plight of trapped Pakistani students, India has offered to evacuate the Pakistani students if Pakistan requests.
India can consider evacuating Pakistani students from the Coronavirus-hit Hubei province “if such a situation arises” and resources are available, the Ministry of External Affairs said while making it clear that Pakistan had made no request for it till now. Hundreds of stranded Pakistani students in the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city have made desperate pleas to the Imran Khan government to evacuate them from China’s worst-affected Hubei province, urging his administration to take a leaf out of India’s book. In a humanitarian gesture, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “No such request has been received by us from the government of Pakistan. But if such a situation arises and keeping in mind the resources available, we can look into it.”
Despite the tensions between the two nations, India offered a humanitarian gesture to Pakistan whose citizens, mostly students are stranded in Coronavirus epicentre Wuhan. India has the humanitarian zeal, the resources and the diplomatic strength to evacuate its citizens without worrying about relations with China. Pakistan lacks all three.
The country which discriminates shamelessly against its minorities, while crying foul for Muslims in India and dreaming to ‘save’ Kashmir, is unable to save its own citizens in China where the intensity of the epidemic may be far more than the official numbers put by the authoritarian regime. The radicalised regime of Imran Khan has totally washed their hands off the plight of Pakistani students in China. Both Pakistan President Arif Alvi and special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza have said that they won’t evacuate the students because it is against the tenets of Islam. It is no wonder that when the Pakistani students approached their embassy in China, the officials told the students that “Zindagi aur maut Allah ke haath mein hai”.
Multiple videos of Pakistani students pleading for help have gone viral where the students are seen asking the Imran Khan government to learn from India on how to take care of its citizens. The videos emerging from the hospitals in Wuhan are gut wrenching as dead bodies lie on the aisles amidst the utter chaos. Law enforcement officers are seen roaming around the streets of Wuhan with semi-automatic rifles sparking widespread concerns that China is upto something sinister.
China has failed to safeguard its citizens and it would be foolhardy to think that Pakistani students would be safe in China. India’s offer to help is a much needed move but it is unlikely that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan would officially request India for help as it simply doesn’t care about its citizens.