|
British Diplomats out of Pakistan
 |
|
Straw did not specify the kind of threat the British were facing in Pakistan.
|
LONDON,
May 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Britain announced
Wednesday that due to security threats to the safety of British
interests in Pakistan, more than 150 diplomatic staff and their
dependants will leave the country.
A
Foreign Office spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 130
staff and family members were being withdrawn from the capital
Islamabad with immediate effect and at least a further 26 from
Karachi.
"The
security threat to British interests in Pakistan has led me to take
the difficult decision to reduce the level of diplomatic
representation there," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said
in a statement.
Straw's
announcement followed news that the British High Commission in the
Pakistani capital of Islamabad was closing all its visa offices
because of threats, BBC’s online news service reported. The British
Council in Islamabad, a cultural institution, was also shut.
He
stressed the move was not "directly" linked to the threat of
war between the nuclear powers over Kashmir. Other Britons in Pakistan
are being advised to consider leaving and only those with a compelling
reason should travel to the country, he added.
"We
are now advising against all but essential travel to Pakistan and then
only where there is a compelling reason and where security is assured.
We are also advising British nationals in Pakistan to consider
leaving," Straw said.
Straw
did not specify the kind of threats the British were facing in
Pakistan, where around 1,000 British nationals are living. "I
can't give further details about the exact source of the threat apart
from saying it's a matter of public record that in recent weeks there
have been a number of all too public security outrages in
Pakistan," Straw said.
According
to AFP, Straw told reporters Tuesday, May 21, that the possibility of
war between India and Pakistan was "real and very
disturbing."
He
stressed, however, that he would do all he could to ease tensions
during his upcoming visit to Islamabad and New Delhi.
Meanwhile,
a British soldier suffered severe head and facial injuries Tuesday
when his vehicle overturned in southeastern Afghanistan, AFP reported.
Concerning
the issue of ill British soldiers in Afghanistan, three more ill
British soldiers will be leaving Afghanistan Sunday, May 26, raising
the number of soldiers hit by a contagious illness and flown out to
hospitals in Britain and Germany, to 11.
The
contagious disease which has hit 39 British soldiers at Bagram air
base has been identified as an affliction called "winter
vomiting", AFP reported.
More
than 300 military personnel are under quarantine within the perimeter
of 34 Field Hospital in Bagram, which lies north of the capital Kabul.
|
