Doha (Staff Report): Hundreds of Pakistanis were abandoned at Doha airport for more than 48 hours after Saudi Arabia banned all flights from Qatar Airways into its airspace following the diplomatic row in the Middle East.
Earlier on Monday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt, among other countries, cut off all ties with Qatar on allegations that Doha supports terrorism and extremism. The move followed severing of all land, air and sea links with Qatar and vice versa.
According to reports, Pakistani pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah were stranded as Qatar Airways was barred from entering Saudi Arabia. Their flight was scheduled to reach Jeddah via Doha. The airline failed to provide accommodation to the Pakistani passengers, said to be around 500, forcing them to settle in at the airport’s departure lounge.
Furthermore, the airline officials have neither arranged any contacts between the passengers and Pakistan embassy, nor given them the schedule of next flight.
The passengers have demanded government to take notice of this matter and take measures to bring them back as soon as possible.