The Government of Pakistan responds to cast and crew stranded in Thailand

The government of Pakistan responds positively to Sara Loren, Mohib Mirza, Sanam Saeed and Shamoon Abbasi’s appeal requesting the country to ensure safe return of their entire film crew. Stranded in Thailand amidst the global lockdown due to CoVid-19, the actors had been continuously contacting the government via their social media platforms.

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, countries including Pakistan have opted for complete lockdowns as well as the closing of borders. On March 21^st, the government announced all international flights to be suspended for two weeks. This was followed by reports of various citizens stranded around the world including countries like the United States, UK, Canada, Middle East, Thailand and Malaysia to name a few.

After appeals from various citizen, on March 31^st, the Oversees Workplace and National Safety Committee permitted Pakistan International Airline (PIA) to partially restore worldwide flight operations starting April 2nd. The airline was permitted to fly special flights in order to help stranded passengers from selected countries who were meant to travel to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

Sara Loren previously traveled to Thailand with the entire team of ‘Ishrat Made In China’ including the actors Mohib Mirza, Sanam Saeed and Shamoon Abbasi before the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Pakistan. Unfortunately, with the sudden announcement of the country going in lock down and suspending international and national flights, the cast and crew found themselves stranded in Thailand. Two of the cast members, Sara Loren and Shamoon Ismail took to social media to appeal to the government of Pakistan requesting for the safe return of their fellow colleagues. Earlier today, the Pakistani government finally responded confirming that citizens stranded in Thailand including the cast and crew of Ishrat Made In China are to return to the country by 14^th April 2020.