Government calls on Maldivian students in Pakistan to return

The Government of Maldives has asked Maldivian students in Pakistan to return home, amid fears that the wars in Pakistan could spread further and pose a danger to the students.

In an interview with Haveeru, the Press Secretary of the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said that the Pakistan army’s war against the terrorist was at a critical phase now and that the Maldivian Government had received secret information that the situation was about to get worse. He further said that those students who wished to return home would receive the full cooperation and help from the Government. He said it wasn’t safe for the Maldivian students to remain in Pakistan as the war was going to spread further in the near future.

“The Government wants all the Maldivian students in Pakistan to return home on their own free will,” he said. “This is because the situation in Pakistan is already very dangerous for them.”

He said that the Foreign Ministry was ready to lend whatever aid they could in order to bring the students back home, but added that so far no one had made such a request.

Zuhair said that they had information that revealed that a lot of the Maldivian students were in places that were not even registered with the Pakistani Government. He further said that the Government knew the places that tried to convert students towards religious extremism.

“They don’t really want to return home,” Zuhair said. “However, even they admit that it was now dangerous to stay there. So we can’t really force them to come back.”