Updated on
Summary
136 Pakistanis arrive home after suffering days of distress in Kyrgyzstan. A special C130 was sent to bring them back which landed at Chaklala Airbase this morning. Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira, Chairman NDMA Gen (R) Nadeem and other Pakistani officials were there to receive the returnees from which most were students. Huge number of the relatives of the returnees was also there which created an emotional scene. A special team of Physicians from PIMS was also sent to Chaklala Airbase for Physical inspection of the Returnees. Corpse of Ali Raza, who died in riots will be brought back in the next flight.Pakistani envoy Tanvir Khaskheli said that most among Pakistanis returned home are students and a little number of traders or laborers among them.Another rescue flight is due to fly off to Osh from Chaklala Airbase at 8:00 am today, he said. BackgroundTension engulfed Kyrgyzstan since the toppling of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. When Mr Bakiyev was ousted in an uprising on 7 April 2010, his stronghold in the south became the centre of instability. Among the Kyrgyz population, pro-Bakiyev elements organised resistance to the interim government by seizing government offices and taking officials hostage. The sizeable Uzbek community displayed sympathy to the new government in Bishkek.As Roza Otunbayeva, the interim president, struggled to control the south, well-established criminal elements and drug dealers exploited the power vacuum. The spark for communal violence was provided by a clash between Kyrgyz and Uzbek gangs in a casino. It soon turned into street fighting among the youth in Osh. Fuelled by rumours of atrocities on either side, angry mobs from other towns and villages arrived in Osh, forcing large numbers of ethnic Uzbeks to flee to Uzbekistan.
