A SCOTS mum stranded in Pakistan because of the coronavirus crisis has pleaded for the UK Government to help get her home to be reunited with her children.
Tabassum Niamat, from Glasgow, flew out to the country with her husband and her youngest child at the end of February for a family bereavement.
But they are now stuck after international flights were suspended in the country as part of efforts to try to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The family has now been left with no way of knowing when they will able to get back and see older children Zineerah Ali, 22, Muzainah Ali, 21 and Rayhan Ali, 18.
Niamat told the Sunday National: “I am missing my kids terribly now, even more so as we hear the news in Britain and how catastrophic it is getting.
“I have two children who are asthmatic and I am finding myself constantly worrying for them – when am I going to see them and hoping they don’t get anything.
“I am a bag of nerves right now.”
Niamat has set up a Facebook support group called Brits Stranded in Pakistan which has nearly 1000 members.
The plight of British nationals who are stuck in various countries such as Peru, Australia and New Zealand has been highlighted in recent days, but Niamat said she felt those in Pakistan were being overlooked.
“We almost had to have a movement just to get ourselves recognised as I felt that Pakistan was being
ignored,” she said.
“We are British citizens, not all of us have dual nationality – I don’t, I was born in Glasgow.
“Our homes are in Britain, our whole lives are there and this isn’t our home.”
Niamat, her husband and three-year-old son Imran Ali are staying with relatives in a rural village and are unable to venture out because of a lockdown in Pakistan.
She said while some airlines had been offering seats for thousands of pounds, there were reports of tickets then being cancelled.
She added: “I have no idea of when we might be able to leave. I have no answers and even if I get a flight what is to say I don’t get stranded somewhere else?
“There is a stopover at Doha and there is nothing to stop them closing down either. There are so many distressed people here that are worried for their families, people running out of medication.
“I think once I get home I will never want to fly anywhere again.
“It feels like every worst disaster movie I have ever seen.”
The SNP has been pressuring the UK Government to implement a programme of evacuation flights for UK nationals stranded overseas.
Last week SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford wrote to the UK Government calling for the Foreign Office to step in and implement a programme of repatriation.
Shadow foreign secretary Alyn Smith has called for an urgent change of policy saying constituents were being left “high and dry at a time when we are seeing pictures of furloughed aircraft and cabin crew”.
SNP MP Deidre Brock has written to Boris Johnson urging him to follow the example of Gordon Brown when he used Royal Navy resources to repatriate UK citizens during the volcanic ash crisis of 2010.
She told the Sunday National: “People are just desperate to get home – of course at times like these they want to be near their loved ones.“If Gordon Brown can act quickly at the time of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud crisis and press into service the naval vessels, then why on Earth can’t this government be seriously looking at something for UK citizens stranded overseas at this
time?“There is precedent there and I think the Government needs to act with much greater urgency.”
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We recognise British tourists abroad are finding it difficult to return to the UK because of the unprecedented international travel and domestic restrictions that are being introduced around the world – often with very little or no notice.
“The FCO is working around the clock to support British travellers in this situation to allow them to come back to the UK.
“The Government is seeking to keep key transit routes open as long as possible and is in touch with international partners and the airline industry to make this happen.
“Consular staff are supporting those with urgent need while providing travel advice and support to those still abroad.”
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