Sharif orders immediate evacuation of stranded Pakistanis from Yemen

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the Pakistani mission in Yemen to take steps for the immediate evacuation of stranded Pakistani families in the troubled country.

According to a statement on Friday from the Prime Minister's House, these instructions were issued keeping in view the deteriorating law and order environment in Yemen, Dawn online reported.

Sharif said people living in Yemen are vulnerable to all sorts of crimes including kidnapping as the state system there has collapsed.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam had said on Thursday that the Pakistani mission in Yemen has been placed on alert and has been asked to keep in touch with the Pakistan community residing there.

"The Pakistani community has been asked to be ready for possible evacuation," she had said.

Earlier, Sharif asserted that any threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched military operations including air strikes in Yemen on Thursday, Saudi officials said, to counter Iran-backed forces besieging the southern city of Aden, where the US-supported Yemeni president had taken refuge.

Gulf broadcaster al-Arabiya TV reported that the kingdom was contributing as many as 150,000 troops and 100 warplanes to the operations and that allies Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Pakistan were ready to take part in a ground offensive in Yemen.