Govt offers subsidised tickets to Pakistani students in Wuhan

The government on Friday said it has decided to offer subsidised tickets to students stranded in China for special repatriation flights starting from May 18.

The gesture is to thank Pakistani students for extending cooperation and showing patience during the pandemic outbreak.

Taking to Twitter, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari said that the Pakistani students in China have suffered a lot due to the outbreak. Therefore, the subsidised tickets for Rs50,000 are a gesture to thank them for their cooperation.

"Thankyou to everyone at PIA and foreign office for coming together to make this happen," Bukhari wrote on Twitter.

Also read: COVID-19: Pakistan announces first flight to repatriate stranded students from Wuhan

Last week, Zulfi Bukhari had announced that Pakistan would send its first flight on May 18 (Monday) to repatriate students from Wuhan, China.

Bukhari, in a tweet had said: "I’m very happy for the 1st flight going to Wuhan to bring back our Pakistani students on 18/05/2020."

"You guys have been the bravest soldiers, PM Imran Khan & Pakistan are proud of you," he added.

Earlier in January, when the coronavirus had yet to spread all over the world, Pakistani students in China had said that they were terrified and were "being kept in one room". It was learnt that a few of the students had been tested for coronavirus amid panic that had spread throughout the world.