The country of Kyrgyzstan it would seem is in for a long and difficult road ahead. It is amazing that people can kill others of the same basic ancestry and otherwise destroy their lives in this fashion.
By the way, can anyone think of a country that is not gripped by war, famine, corruption, religious violence and/or poverty and has a name ending with the letters ‘___stan’ – I certainly cannot. What do all countries with a name which ends with the letters ‘___stan’ have in common? Certainly if they all fit the same mold, they must likewise share a common denominator. What is it? TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
BEIJING (AFP) – Governments across Asia were evacuating their nationals from Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday after days of deadly ethnic clashes in the central Asian nation.
China, India, Pakistan and South Korea all organised flights to rescue citizens living and working in the troubled south of the country after violence that has left 170 people dead.
Two charter flights carrying 195 Chinese citizens landed early Tuesday in Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang region bordering on Kyrgyzstan, the foreign ministry in Beijing said.
A third Chinese plane had left the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh and was due in Urumqi on Tuesday night, the state news agency Xinhua said.
About 600 Chinese living in Osh have requested evacuation, Xinhua said, citing foreign ministry officials.
The China Daily newspaper reported that about 7,000 Chinese nationals live in the Osh region. Most of them are businessmen, but some are construction workers.
So far, no Chinese nationals have been counted among the 170 dead and nearly 1,800 injured as ethnic Kyrgyz gangs attacked the shops and homes of ethnic Uzbeks.
Tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have fled across the border into Uzbekistan.
Chinese authorities have urged nationals living in Kyrgyzstan to remain in their homes after reports that Chinese-owned businesses were looted.
Pakistan flew home more than 130 citizens and students on Tuesday and immediately dispatched the same military plane to pick up scores more.
Foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP that 134 Pakistanis had arrived safely home on the first flight and that about the same number were due to be repatriated on the second journey.
The body of a Pakistani student who was killed during the riots in Osh would be on the second flight, officials said.
About 1,200 to 1,500 Pakistanis, mostly students, live in Kyrgyzstan.
India said on Tuesday it had evacuated all its nationals from the south of the country.
About 116 Indians — mainly students — were flown from the towns of Osh and Jalalabad to the relatively stable capital Bishkek and would arrive back in India in next few days, the foreign ministry in New Delhi said.
It said in a statement that the airlift was arranged “with the active cooperation and support of the Kyrgyz authorities.”
South Korea said it had evacuated 74 citizens from Osh on Monday via a chartered flight.
Three South Koreans remained in Osh at their own wishes, the foreign ministry said.
About 100 Japanese were staying in Bishkek, but there was no plan to evacuate them, a foreign ministry official said.
