France Advises Citizens to Leave Pakistan for Security Reasons
Voice of America
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - France advised its citizens and companies Thursday to temporarily leave Pakistan, citing “serious threats to French interests” in the South Asian nation.
The move follows violent protests this week across large parts of Pakistan by activists of the radical Islamist party Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), which has been demanding that Islamabad expel the French ambassador over the publishing of anti-Islam cartoons in France. “Due to the serious threats to French interests in Pakistan, French nationals and French companies are advised to temporarily leave the country," France’s embassy said in an email to its estimated 500 citizens in living in Pakistan. “The departures will be carried out by existing commercial airlines,” it said.This photo provided by the Prefecture Maritime du Nord et de la Manche shows migrants continuing their journey to Britain off the northern coast of France, April 23, 2024. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks at a press conference at Downing Street in London, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks.
Women in rural Malawi pick vegetables in Chikwawa district. Statistics show that more than 20% of Malawi's 19.6 million people live in extreme poverty. With 20% of people in Malawi living in extreme poverty, UNICEF says parents and caregivers in rural areas need assistance to care for their children. These children are pictured in Malawi's Chikwawa district.
FILE - Visitors walk past a model of India's Brahmos supersonic cruise missile displayed at the Defence Expo 2022 in Gandhinagar on Oct. 18, 2022. South China Sea territorial claims India’s Foreign Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar shakes hands with Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo after a joint press conference at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila, March 26, 2024. (Jam Sta Rosa/Pool via Reuters)