Fact-finding committee formed on Bishkek violence

ISLAMABAD: With the return of around 4,000 students to Pakistan from Bishkek, consequent to an incident of violence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formed a fact-finding committee to look into the factors leading to the happening besides assessing the role of Pakistan’s mission there in handling the situation.

“For our own satisfaction, for the satisfaction of the ministry and the prime minister, we have decided to form an inquiry committee under Additional Secretary (Admin) Muhammad Saleem. This committee will carry out the fact-finding as to how these developments took place. It will interact with the relevant people including at the Pakistan mission and the Kyrgyz government,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said while addressing a press conference on his return from Bishkek.

Dar, who visited Astana to attend the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers and flew to Bishkek from there along with his Kyrgyz counterpart, said the committee would submit its report within two weeks, the official news agency reported.

He told the media that the federal ministers had to cancel their visit to Bishkek on the suggestion of the Kyrgyz authorities, however, during his interaction with his Kyrgyz counterpart in Astana, he conveyed his desire for a visit to meet the Pakistani nationals affected by the violence, which led to his trip there.

During the visit to Bishkek, the deputy prime minister met Pakistani worker Shahzaib, who suffered a jaw fracture in the incident, at a hospital. He later flew back to Pakistan in the deputy prime minister’s special aircraft after the Bishkek health authorities allowed him to travel.

The deputy prime minister was told by the Kyrgyz authorities that the violence was not Pakistan-specific; however, the matter was settled with the Kyrgyz president publicly announcing zero tolerance for any such violence in the future.

Dar said that the Kyrgyz government assured him that they would take the perpetrators to task though some have already been arrested. They said the Kyrgyz government considered foreign students their valuable guests who contribute to the national economy.

The deputy prime minister said that on his request, the Kyrgyz authorities agreed to regularise around 1,100 Pakistani workers who were about to be deported for overstay. Dar said he had also offered the Kyrgyz government to import Pakistan’s skilled manpower under any government-to-government mechanism, not through agents, which they agreed upon.

He told the media that during an interaction with him at the Bishkek airport, the representatives of Pakistani students expressed satisfaction over the Pakistani mission’s role during the situation.

Assessing the fear among the students, Dar said he had suggested the Kyrgyz deputy prime minister and foreign minister to send their representatives to interact with them.

To a question, the deputy prime minister said the medical education Pakistani students were getting in Kyrgyzstan was already under question by the PMDC and HEC.

However, he said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had already formed a committee under him to look into how the youngsters aspiring for medical education could be accommodated locally, without compromising the standard of Pakistan’s robust medical education.