At least 540 Pakistani students would return to the country from Kyrgyzstan through three commercial flights the government would run on Sunday (today), Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has said as they seek repatriation after a violent mob attacked foreign students.

The return of more than 500 students would bring the tally of returning students to 670 after 130 students arrived in Lahore on Saturday night.

“Upon our request, the Air Force will operate one flight, airbus, having the capacity to carry 130 students. So far, 50 students have registered themselves with the embassy for the flight,” Dar told reporters in Lahore.

He briefed the reporters on Sunday on the Kyrgyzstan situation as Pakistani students wait for return flights amid violence. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Frontier Regions and National Heritage and Culture Minister Amir Muqam accompanied the deputy prime minister.

The deputy PM clarified that students from India, Bangladesh, and the Arab region were also attacked as shunned the impression that only Pakistanis were attacked.

While quoting statistics from the Kyrgyz government, he said that around 16 students – including four –were injured in the violence.

According to Dar, the cause of the incident was not yet confirmed as there were unconfirmed reports of a clash between some foreign students and locals

“You can say it was an attack against foreign students.”

Dar, who is also the foreign minister, said that the government was trying to spread the message to everyone.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office received the message about the violence at around 3am.

‘Paid bloggers, social media activists’ propagated incident

Dar while sharing details of his conversation with his Kyrgyz counterpart said that the latter assured him that the government was monitoring the situation “minute-to-minute”.

“There is no further problem and there is no such thing that violence will again start,” he said and added that the government brought students from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the Arab region and Kyrgyzstan together where they spoke with each other in a “cordial manner”.

The deputy PM said that the incident occurred due to a “misunderstanding”. While quoting the Kyrgyz FM, he said they also have an opposition who campaign against foreign students’ entry to the country.

“But the Kyrgyz FM said that we value foreign students as we get foreign exchange when students come here and our educational institutions operate because of that.”

He quoted his Kyrgyz counterpart as saying that “paid bloggers and paid social media” were used in the incident. “We don’t know what their agenda is.” He reiterated that the situation was normal, security institutions were active, and extra security was deployed outside hostels.

“You won’t hear such news after this,” Dar said and lamented using social media to spread hate and arouse people’s sentiments. “For God’s sake draw the line somewhere.”

No Pakistani died

While quoting the Kyrgyz foreign minister, he said that it was a lie that Pakistani students God forbid died there. “I guarantee you no Pakistani died,” Dar quoted him.

“This is inhumane and unfortunate that social media are going so far.”

Visit cancelled on Kyrgyz government’s request

The deputy prime minister confirmed that his trip to Kyrgyzstan was cancelled at the request of the Kyrgyz government.

“Last night we thought we should go there, they [Kyrgyz government] requested us and urged us to trust them,” Dar said and added that the host country requested him to send an ambassador instead as the opposition would politicise the matter if senior ministers arrived.

Dar said that the trip was planned to assure the students. Later, the host country’s request was accepted and two additional FO staff members were sent to the country for assistance. “If needed, an additional foreign secretary will be sent to Kyrgyzstan for verification after discussion with the prime minister.”

He spoke about the Kyrgyz government’s seriousness, by saying that the Central Asian country cancelled the leave of the ambassador to Pakistan for this matter.

“If the special flight by Air Force is filled, then the total number of returning students will be 830,” he said.

Dar added the Kyrgyz foreign minister told him, “Brother please don’t worry I guarantee you everything is normal here. If you want to send somebody you can and see. If there would have been any such situation I would not have gone to Astana, Kazakhstan to attend the SCO.”

Kyrgyz nationals meet Pakistani students

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar shared footage from the Kyrgyz foreign ministry, showing that locals meeting Pakistani students

In a veiling reference to the PTI, he lamented that one political party wanted to spread chaos by spreading propaganda and telling misinformation to students’ parents. He added that the same party had written a letter to the IMF.

“Using this incident for point scoring and making parents of victims is sad and condemnable,” Tarar told reporters that six students were under treatment. “The safety of every Pakistani is our responsibility. We won’t let anyone unsafe.”

Kyrgyz govt vows to punish perpetrators of incident

When asked about some student’s claim that it was difficult for them to reach the airport via house, he said that it was “exaggerated” and called for not politicising the matter.

He added that the size of the mission was enough to address the normal situation. “You won’t see any lapse,” he said and added that extra security was deployed on sensitive locations.

In response to another query, Dar added that around 11,000 students were enrolled in Bishkek and 6,000 in other cities of Kyrgyzstan.

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He abstained from speaking about the degree completion process. “We should also provide equal medical facilities in our country, rather than our students go abroad for weak medical education. I am not saying Bishkek had weak medical.”

Dar said that if needed we would go to Kyrgyzstan. “We will work until the last moment and when we are satisfied everything is nice,” he said and added that students have a choice whether to return to the country or not.

He added the country cannot risk its diplomatic ties by rejecting a government’s request to cancel the visit. “The diplomatic ties are sensitive,” Dar said and added that the ambassador confirmed the Kyrgyz government statements.

According to Dar, such incidents happened in Kyrgyzstan also and added that politics was behind the provocation of the campaign against Pakistan.

When asked about the government’s demand for investigation against miscreants, he said that some people have been arrested and quoted the Kyrgyz FM as saying: “I commit to you that we won’t let any perpetrator without punishment. We are going into this depth and further speak in Astana. You should not worry.”