2nd batch of 500 Kashmiri students to board flights today
New Delhi, Jun 19: The first flight carrying over 100 students, who were evacuated to Armenia from war-torn Iran, landed in Delhi in the early hours on Thursday.
Amid escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, Indian students in Tehran were moved out of the city, 110 of them crossing the border into Armenia, through arrangements made by the Indian Embassy on Tuesday under ‘Operation Sindhu’.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for launching the evacuation effort.
“We remain hopeful that all remaining students will be evacuated soon,” the association said in a statement.
Parents of some students were seen anxiously waiting outside the airport for their children.
Haider Ali, father of 21-year-old Maaz Haider, an MBBS student in Iran, thanked the Indian government for the rescue efforts.
“We are really happy. The students have been brought back home safely. We thank the Indian government for this. But we are sad that students, who are stuck in Tehran, have not been rescued,” he said, and urged the authorities to evacuate students still stranded in Tehran.
Parvez Alam, father of Sameer Alam, was also seen waiting for his son at the airport.
“It has been two years since he has been studying in Urmia. Everything was fine but recently the situation deteriorated. We were under a lot of stress. But the Indian government evacuated students to Armenia where they were kept in good hotels. We are thankful to the Indian government,” the Bulandshahr resident said.
Meanwhile, 500 students of Kashmir studying in Iran are likely to board the flights to India from Turkmenistan on Friday.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) in this regard said that around 600 Indian students, including 500 from Kashmir, have been safely relocated from Qom to Mashhad, a border city in Iran, as part of the ongoing evacuation efforts.
National Convenor of Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) Nasir Khuehami said, “This is the second group of students who were earlier moved to Qom, where they remained for three days. Their evacuation process is currently underway.”
“The students are from various institutions, including Islamic Azad University, Iran University of Medical Sciences, and Shahid Beheshti University. From Mashhad, they are expected to be taken to Turkmenistan, from where they will likely board flights to Delhi tomorrow,” he said.
According to JKSA, at least 90 students of Kashmir studying in Iran reached India from Armenia on Thursday. Besides Kashmiri students, nearly 20 other students from other states have also reached India from the same batch.
