Parents in Valley urge for evacuation
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR, Mar 3:
An explosion just 300 metres from their dormitory has left Indian students in Iran’s Urmia city fearful, a Kashmiri medical student told PTI on Tuesday as hostilities continue in the region.
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Labeeb Qadri from Srinagar, a final-year MBBS student at Urmia University of Medical Sciences, said attacks have been taking place continuously.
“The situation has not been good at all for the last few days. Here in Urmia, attacks are taking place continuously. About one hour ago, an explosion happened just 300 metres from our dormitory,” he said over the phone.
Qadri said another strike occurred outside their dormitory earlier in the day. He said around 110 Indian students – nearly 50 boys and a similar number of girls – are currently staying in the dormitories in the centre of the city.
“Everyone asks why we didn’t leave Iran when the advisory was issued, but most of the students had tickets for February 28 and March 6. In Iran, only one or two flights operate to India per week, so we couldn’t leave earlier,” he said.
Qadri added that many students hoped the situation would improve as diplomatic talks were underway.
“Because talks were ongoing, we assumed everything would improve. But now we are stuck here, and we don’t know what to do,” he said.
Another student, Musa Rauf, said the attack near the dorm left students shaken.
“We urge the embassy to rescue us as soon as possible, by any means necessary. Situation has escalated quite rapidly …So, it was not really up to us to leave early,” he said.
Rauf said the scarcity of flights prevented them from leaving while there was time.
“We are requesting the Indian embassy to evacuate us from Armenia, if it is possible, as it is a safer option for us to reach there,” he said.
Suhail Bhat adds from Srinagar: Parents of Kashmiri students studying in Iran today urged the Central Government to evacuate their children from war torn Iran.
An estimated 3,000 Indian students were in Iran, including around 2,000 from Kashmir. Of these, between 1,100 and 1,200 were believed to be in the country at the time. Most were pursuing medical degrees at universities in Tehran and other provinces.
Parents said continuous air strikes, particularly in Tehran, and internet disruptions heightened anxiety, with some families unable to contact their children for several days.
Many students had returned home in January during unrest in Iran amid widespread protests, but travelled back to appear for two crucial examinations in March and a compulsory pre-internship exam required for medical students.
Bashir Ahmad Wani, from Baramulla, said his daughter had been studying in Iran for the past four years. Her final examination was on 10th March and she had booked her return ticket for 13th March.
“She was due to return on the 13th, but the situation worsened,” he said. “We spoke to her this morning. She was very worried, and so were we. We urge the Central Government to evacuate her. We request them to help our children and bring them back safely.”
Another parent said families were living in constant fear. “We appeal to the Prime Minister and the authorities to move our children out of this war zone, particularly from Iran. It was very difficult for us. We did not know what each day will bring.”
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association said that amid continuous air strikes, with Tehran among the worst-affected cities, the Embassy of India in Tehran initiated the relocation of Indian students to safer areas as a precautionary measure.
According to the association, students in Tehran were shifted by buses arranged by the embassy to the city of Qom and travelled under the supervision of Indian authorities. It said it communicated with the students and confirmed that all Indian nationals in Tehran, including those from Kashmir, were safe. The Ministry of External Affairs closely coordinated the process.
The evacuation was expected to take place in the following days, subject to the reopening of airspace and the evolving security situation.
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