ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office confirmed on Thursday that 23 nationals were safely evacuated from the earthquake-affected area in Turkey, and casualties among members of the Pakistani community residing in the transcontinental nation were reported.
The evacuees were accommodated in southern Adana city after being rescued from Gaziantep University. 16 of them will return to Pakistan while the rest will be transferred to Istanbul.
The Foreign Office is in constant communication with local authorities to provide relief to affected Pakistanis, said spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at her weekly press briefing.
In response to a question about the outcome of meetings between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, Baloch emphasised the positive developments that could come from the multifaceted dialogue.
When asked about Pakistan’s absence from a multilateral security dialogue on Afghanistan in Moscow, Baloch explained: “We made the decision not to participate in the Moscow meeting of regional stakeholders. However, we will remain engaged and participate in all productive discussions concerning Afghanistan.”
The spokesperson also announced that Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will visit Pakistan from February 15 to 16, to explore opportunities for advancing cooperation in peaceful applications of nuclear technology.
Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, will visit France on February 10 for the 14th Round of Bilateral Political Consultations, during which a roadmap for bilateral cooperation between the two countries will be signed, she added.
Regarding the recent eviction of Kashmiri Muslims from the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesperson condemned the use of land as a weapon to intimidate the people of the region and expressed support for the just and peaceful settlement of the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
