BA suspends operations to Pak, IMF team leaves country

British Airways (BA) has halted all its flights to Pakistan and an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team has left the country without completing an economic review due to security concerns in the wake of Saturday’s suicide attack on Marriott Hotel here.

British Airways Spokesman Sohail Rahman said the airline had temporarily suspended its operations in Pakistan following the bombing.

The situation was being reviewed by British Airway’s head office in London and the airline was not in a position to give a date for the resumption of services, he said.

The airline’s last flight from London to Islamabad, the only destination in Pakistan served by British Airways, operated on Sunday.

Finance ministry officials were quoted by Dawn News channel as saying that an IMF delegation had left Pakistan without completing an economic review of the country due to security concerns.

The team was scheduled to complete its review on Wednesday but left after the suicide attack, which killed 53 people, including four foreigners, and injured 266.

The IMF is working with the Pakistan government to address the country’s worsening economic crisis. The team’s departure would delay the finalisation of the IMF’s statement on the state of the Pakistani economy, they said.

Meanwhile, the International School of Islamabad, also known as the American school, today closed down till Friday after it received a “specific threat”, sources said.

The school’s branches in Lahore and Karachi were also closed. details about the threat received by the school were not immediately available.

The children of diplomats of many countries, including the US and India, study in the American school. n another development, the Indian High Commission today cancelled an iftar reception scheduled for September 25 to express solidarity with the victims of the attack.