Kashmiri Students Hope To Resume Studies As Iran-Israel Ceasefire Holds

As Israel and Iran exchanged missile fire on June 13, Sehreen Parvaiz sat in her room in Tehran and didn’t sleep all night. The 24-year-old student’s family grew worried over her safety, and they heaved a sigh of relief as she returned to her home in Kashmir.

Now at her house in the Chadoora area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district, she said she hoped to resume her studies back in Iran after the country's ceasefire with Israel.

“Our exams are scheduled shortly, though I can write some tests online, I am looking at joining back studies after the ceasefire,” said Sehreen, who is pursuing MBBS in Iran.

Before she returned to Kashmir, she faced a hard time moving out of one safer place to another in Iran amid the bombing.

“Many of the students from our University were moved first to  Qom from Tehran and then Mashad, before the airspace was opened for our evacuation to New Delhi,” she said, her head covered fully with hijab.

Sehreen said that the missiles were fired by Israel into Tehran on June 13 itself,  and the bombing caused devastation all around. 

“While we were taken from Tehran, there was smoke rising from a burnt structure. Although the locals were not much impacted by these scenes, possibly due to previous experience of such situations, I had sleepless nights and my parents were particularly worried about my safety,” she said.    

Over 1,300  Kashmiri students are studying in Iran, mostly pursuing undergraduate medical degrees, but there are also scores of families of Kashmiri students living there who are pursuing religious education. Several students hoped that after the ceasefire, they would return and begin class work.

Nazima Feroze, 23, who is in her last year of studies for MBBS at Iran University of Medical Sciences, said that she was among the second batch of students who were evacuated from Iran. 

“After the airspace was opened, we were evacuated directly from Mashad. The air strikes happened in Iran, but the missiles seemed to have been intercepted as there was not much damage on the ground,” said Nazima, at her home in the Doyen area of Chadoora.

“Now that the ceasefire holds between Iran and Israel, I hope to return to my university and begin my studies. I would complete the MBBS degree next year,” she said.