A week after 647 Indians were evacuated from Wuhan, China; External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has revealed that India had offered to evacuate nationals of all neighbouring countries, including Pakistan.
“We were prepared to bring back not only our people but also those from all our neighbourhood who would have liked to. This was an offer which was made to all our neighbours but only seven nationals of Maldives chose to avail the offer, “Jaishankar revealed in the Rajya Sabha. The statement comes as a parallel to news of India willing to evacuate Pakistani nationals from Wuhan, if and when requested by Pakistan to do. MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, in a press briefing, said that India had received no such request from Pakistan. “If the situation develops and we have the resources, we can definitely consider it,” he had said.
The statement comes after days of intense debate and discussion on social media as to whether it would be right for India to evacuate Pakistani nationals from Wuhan on their country’s behalf. Turns out, it is not that Pakistan is not capable of evacuating its citizens, but rather it’s fear of handling them after they land on Pakistani soil. The very fact that India was prepared to evacuate citizens of neighbouring countries, including Pakistan last week while it evacuated its own citizens is a testimony to the large-heartedness of our country’s political establishment, despite heightened tensions between the two countries for the past one year now.
Pakistan’s ego, for whatever reasons it still has one, once again came between help reaching its citizens in distress. It must be remembered that Pakistan, under Imran Khan has almost disowned the Pakistanis currently in Wuhan, and had earlier stated that it would not be rescuing its citizens in an act of ‘solidarity’ with its all-weather ally China. The Pakistani President went a step further and defended the government’s stand by saying that the Prophet would have never wanted for the estranged citizens to be evacuated.
Prophet's ﷺ directions regarding disease outbreaks are a good guide even 2day “If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it, but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place” (Bukhari & Muslim) Let us help those stuck there.
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) January 31, 2020
For Pakistan to accept India’s help in evacuating its citizens would indeed be an embarrassing situation for them to be in, however, what sick country lets its ego come between prestige and the need of its citizens? It is understandable that Pakistan has been having a rather tearing breakdown since the Modi government abrogated Article 370, however, one would have expected them to at least stand with their own people in times like these. A country which cannot help its own citizens in China wants Kashmiris to be identified as Pakistanis. The joke couldn’t get funnier.
We are ready to sacrifice our citizens, but we will not request you; Pakisan’s ego is bigger than its citizens
Pakistan’s reply is a disgrace for humanity