Pakistani students studying in China have not been able to visit their home country for over two years and their plight is worsened by the attitude of their own country even after approaching Pakistani missions in China, the students are left at the mercy of the Chinese government which is already struggling amid the resurgence of COVID.
In spite of a halt on most of the activities, they are not able to leave China. These Pakistani students have been approaching Pakistani missions in China seeking support for their various needs arising out of unforeseen situations.
Despite the ordeal, the missions and their officials prefer to leave the students at the mercy of the Chinese government, reported Islam Khabar.
Moreover, the students who managed to return to Pakistan are now grappled with yet another issue. China is not allowing these students to join their campuses and resume their classes.
As per a report, over 28,000 Pakistani students are enrolled in Chinese educational institutions and many of them have been stranded in their home country since 2020.
The issue was highlighted by many Pakistani students however it was to no avail. In January 2022, some of them took their plight to Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and asked him why individuals from Malaysia were allowed to return to China when Pakistanis were not.
Qureshi, instead of attending to the plight of the students from his own country, mocked them. He asked why they wanted to go to China when even Chinese President Xi Jinping himself was not going anywhere, as per Islam Khabar.
China's financial hub, Shanghai, has been facing the worst COVID-19 outbreak and has been desperately seeking medical care and basic supplies like food.
Shanghai authorities have imposed draconian lockdown measures since March that have locked 25 million residents in their homes with Chinese military and national health care workers.
So far, Shanghai authorities defended the policy, stating that anyone found positive - regardless of age - must be isolated from non-infected people and that a parent can only be quarantined with their child if both are infected.China's much-publicised 'zero-covid' strategy that the government credited for bringing the country out of the pandemic till recently is falling apart as the rapidly mounting cases are again forcing mass lockdowns like those seen in 2020.
( With inputs from ANI )
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