LONDON: Twenty-one British lawmakers have penned down a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging to move Pakistan to the amber list for travel “as soon as possible”.
In the letter dated August 12, the lawmakers, led by Labour MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pakistan Yasmin Qureshi, stated that they made a series of moves to understand their government’s decision to retain Pakistan on the red list.
According to the letter, the lawmakers also tabled parliamentary questions, many of which were not answered by the government and it was not obliged to answer anymore since the parliament was no longer in session.
Updated red list letter signatures, with @DawnButlerBrent @zarahsultana & @SarahChampionMP all added ????????
These three colleagues and friends are committed to ensuring Pakistan moves to the amber list which will help unite families in times of grief and support students pic.twitter.com/Wfii5z1gcY
— Yasmin Qureshi MP (@YasminQureshiMP) August 12, 2021
“When other countries in the Asia region were moved to the Amber List, many of us wrote to the government and tried to understand the rationale behind the decision to move some countries but not Pakistan,” the letter stated.
“From initial discussions with British Government officials, it was suggested that Pakistan had not provided any data for June or July, that their vaccination rates were not as high as required, and that there was not enough genome sequencing underway to warrant a change in status,” it added.
However, the letter stated, after discussions with officials from the Pakistan High Commission in London it was clear that up to date data for June and July had been provided to the UK government and authorities concerned.
The letter pointed out that Pakistan has overall responded well to the pandemic when compared to international partners, adding that it had also implemented PCR and lateral flow testing for travellers and established a quarantine system.
Pakistan was placed on the red list in early April and India on April 19 due to the rising number of cases. In an update issued by the British government earlier this month, India, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were to be moved up to the amber list from August 8 but Pakistan remained on the red list.
