TAFTAN: Pakistani nationals hauled suitcases across the border from neighbouring Iran, describing missiles being launched and travel chaos as they scrambled to leave the country that the US and Israel hit with strikes over the weekend.
AFP journalists saw a steady trickle of people passing through large metal gates at the remote border crossing between Iran’s Mirjaveh and Taftan in Balochistan province.
Powerful explosions have rocked Iran’s capital Tehran since Saturday, with embassies from countries around the world telling their citizens to leave.
“All our Pakistani brothers who were in Tehran and other cities had started to leave and were arriving at the terminal, which caused a lot of crowd pressure,” 38-year-old trader Ameer Muhammad told AFP. “Due to the crowds, there were major transport problems.”
Foreign minister Ishaq Dar said in a news conference on Tuesday that Pakistan has three consulates working in Iran to offer support to the 35,000 citizens in the country. Almost 800 had returned to Pakistan in recent days, he told journalists in Islamabad.
The isolated Taftan border lies around 500 kilometres (310 miles) from Quetta.
AFP journalists saw the Iranian flag flying at half-mast as soldiers stood guard. Most people wheeled bulky luggage over the frontier’s foot crossing, while freight lorries formed a long line.
Irshad Ahmed, a 49-year-old traveller, told AFP he was staying at a hostel in Tehran when he saw missiles being fired nearby. “There was an army base near the hostel, and we saw many missiles being fired,” he said.
“After that, we went to the Pakistani embassy so that they could evacuate us from there. They brought us here safely.”
A teacher at Tehran’s Pakistani embassy, who gave his name as Saqib, told AFP: “Before we left, the situation was normal. The situation was not that bad.”
The 38-year-old said the strikes on Tehran on Saturday pushed us to leave the city. “The situation became bad on Saturday night, when attacks caused precious lives to be lost,” he said.
