More than 3,000 Pakistanis return home from Kyrgyzstan after recent attacks on foreigners

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has repatriated more than 3,000 Pakistanis, mostly students, from Kyrgyzstan in the past week after recent attacks on foreigners over an unknown dispute with migrants, the deputy prime minister said Wednesday.

Pakistan began using special and commercial flight over the weekend to bring people home. More were expected to return later Wednesday, bringing their number to slightly over 4,000 by midnight.

Ishaq Dar told a news conference in Islamabad that the situation was under control now in the capital Bishkek, where authorities are trying to arrest people who attacked foreigners, including Pakistanis.

Thousands of Pakistanis study or work in Kyrgyzstan, and Dar said most of them wanted to come home.

He said he visited Bishkek the previous day, where he met his counterpart as well as Pakistanis who live there.

“Though the situation is now normal in Bishkek, we are facilitating those Pakistanis who want to come back,” Dar said.