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ISLAMABAD: The foreign office said on Thursday about 3,000 Pakistani nationals have been evacuated from Iran following the Israeli attack, adding the country’s diplomatic mission is working to facilitate stranded students seeking urgent evacuation.

A week of Israeli air and missile strikes, which began on June 13, has led to the killing of many of Iran’s top-ranking military officials and ordinary people. In response, Tehran’s retaliatory strikes have also killed about two dozen civilians in Israel.

Following Friday’s escalation, Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights, stranding hundreds of expatriates, including Pakistani religious tourists, students and workers.

“The evacuation is moving smoothly and so far, nearly 3,000 Pakistani nationals have already been evacuated,” foreign office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told reporters in his weekly media briefing.

“Our consulates in Zahedan and Mashhad have been active round the clock, extending all possible facilitation and support to our nationals who are in Iran,” he said, expressing gratitude to the Iranian authorities for their sensitivity and all possible facilitation and help extended in this process.

Khan said the Pakistani mission was using multiple routes to evacuate citizens, including via the Gabr and Taftan border crossings, through Ashgabat, Baku and even Baghdad, through special flights.

“It’s an ongoing process as there are logistical challenges at times, but we are working together with the Iranian authorities to resolve them if a problem arises,” he added.

The spokesperson said there is a sizeable Pakistani community in Iran, with many of them living in the neighboring state for years with their families after marrying local people.

STRANDED STUDENTS

Speaking to Arab News from various cities across Iran, Pakistani students expressed serious concerns about their safety and appealed for immediate evacuation.

“I have been stranded here since the suspension of flight operations due to the regional tensions,” Muhammad Hussain, a Pakistani medical student at Qom University of Medical Sciences, told Arab News over the phone.

“The situation is becoming more tense, we are now hearing continuous explosions, which has increased our concern for safety,” he said, adding that he tried to reach out to the Pakistan embassy as well who asked him to travel to the Chabahar border.

“I am unable to get any means to go there,” he said, urging the Pakistan government and the embassy to arrange special transport to take them to border.

“Our families are extremely worried, and we just want to go back,” he added.

Noman Khan, an MBBS student in Urmia, a city in Iran’s Azerbaijan province, said he was part of a group of Pakistani students, including 10 girls, awaiting repatriation amid the ongoing situation.

“We contacted the embassy to evacuate us and, about two days ago, they asked us to book a bus ourselves, promising to send the payment,” he informed, adding that even after more than 60 hours, they were still waiting for the payment without which they were unable to get transport to cross border.

“We have female students with us as well who are also scared as nearby cities were also hit by missiles,” he continued.

“Our city is about two hours away from Tabriz and almost two to three drones were shot down in our city as well.”

Saman Yunus, another medical student at Iran University of Medical Sciences, said that due to the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, they had been traveling for the past four days.

“The Pakistani Embassy advised us that it would be safer to go to the Chabahar border and assured us that any issues related to accommodation or other needs would be resolved within minutes,” she told Arab News.

However, she said the biggest problem they faced was that the border was not open 24/7 and there was no accommodation available.

“As a result, we had to spend the entire night on the roadside and we contacted both our university and the embassy, but no help was provided,” she continued, adding they were now heading to Pakistani consulate in Zahedan, hoping they would facilitate a safe border crossing.

“A representative there has assured us that they will handle it as soon as possible and ensure we safely cross border,” she added.

ISLAMABAD: A seven-member delegation from Bangladeshi universities is currently visiting Pakistan to deepen academic and scientific cooperation between the two countries, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s coordinating body for scientific collaboration said on Thursday.

Pakistan and Bangladesh, once a single country before the bloody 1971 war, have slowly begun rebuilding ties after last year’s political upheaval in Dhaka, which saw the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid, long viewed as critical of Islamabad and aligned with New Delhi.

She fled to India by helicopter after her administration’s downfall in August 2024, with Dhaka now seeking her extradition.

The ties between India and Bangladesh’s interim government have become frosty, creating space for Islamabad and Dhaka to re-engage after decades of limited contact.

“The forum brought together a seven-member Bangladeshi delegation comprising vice chancellors and senior representatives from leading universities, and vice chancellors from 15 top Pakistani universities, which are part of COMSTECH Consortium of Excellence,” the OIC-COMSTECH said in a statement, adding that academics from Bangladesh are visiting Pakistan from June 16-21.

The visiting delegation termed their ongoing visit as “historical, highly productive and promising” for academic collaboration between Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Vice chancellors from Pakistani and Bangladeshi universities held discussions aimed at deepening academic and scientific cooperation, it added.

The meetings focused on expanding collaboration in key areas including student and faculty exchange programs, scholarship opportunities, joint research initiatives apart from sharing academic expertise.

The participants of the meeting also agreed that each university would appoint a focal person to ensure effective follow-up on commitments made during the visit.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan Iqbal Hussain Khan, the chief guest at the event, praised COMSTECH for offering scholarships, organizing the visit and facilitating meaningful academic exchanges between higher education institutions of the two countries.

In May, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar agreed to strengthen bilateral relationship with Bangladesh and maintain high-level contacts with its leadership.

Pakistan’s government launched a new program in December 2024 through which it will provide fully funded scholarships to 300 Bangladeshi students.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Bangladesh Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus in New York last year at a ceremony hosted by the Bangladeshi leader to mark the completion of 50 years of Bangladesh’s membership in the United Nations.

Both sides had agreed to forge stronger ties and enhance bilateral cooperation in various fields during their meeting.