Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday announced formation of an inquiry committee to look into the affairs related to the attacks on students in Kyrgyzstan, saying a notification would be issued later in the day so that the panel could ascertain the facts related to the issue. Addressing a press conference, Dar said he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Astana – the capital of Kazakhstan – on yesterday, where he held a meeting with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev, During the meeting, he discussed the matter Kulubayev and expressed the desire to visit his country to meet the Pakistani students, said Dar who holds the portfolio of foreign ministry in the Shehbaz Sharif-led government. Later, they flew to Bishkek – Kyrgyzstan’s capital – and met the country’s deputy prime minister, he added.

Dar said the Kyrgyz authorities briefed him on the violence and informed that the president – Sadyr Nurgojoyevich Japarov – had taken strict notice of the developments. The individuals responsible for the episode were identified and arrested, they said, adding that situation had returned to normal in Bishkek. Dar said three injured Pakistani students were hospitalised and two of them had already been discharged by the time he went there. The deputy prime minister said it was revealed during his visit that around 1,100 Pakistanis were working illegally in the Central Asian Republic and he requested the Kyrgyz government to legalise their status by granting them the required visa. In his response, the Kyrgyz deputy prime minister accepted the request and promised to issue the related documents.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan