J&K Prepares To Evacuate All Kashmiri Students Stranded In Bangladesh

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has said that it is planning to evacuate over the next 15 days all Kashmiri students stranded in Bangladesh.

“First flight on May 8 carried 168 students stuck in Bangladesh back home. Transport for them was made available at Srinagar airport and they were brought to hotels after screening at Srinagar Airport for quarantine. Their sampling and testing will be done on 5th day of arrival,” Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Shahid Choudhary said.

He said more flights are planned for May 12 and May 13 and they will accommodate nearly 500 students.

“We are around 72 students and we were so desperate to leave this place. In April we marched toward the border. We were turned away from the border,” said one of the Kashmiri students from Community Based Medical College.

“Given 200 more students remain, options are being explored for another flight to ensure that all students are home before Eid. Govt is taking up with MEA for another AI flight,” Choudhary says.

There are around 500 Kashmiri students currently stuck in Bangladesh. Around 7000-8000 students from different districts of Jammu and Kashmir study in various medical colleges of Bangladesh. The country has become an educational destination for Kashmiri students for medical studies in the past decade. In the 90s, Kashmiris would prefer to study medicine in central Asian countries.

However, proximity and English being the medium of education, Kashmiri students give Bangladesh precedence over other South and Central Asian countries. East-West Medical College, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Medical College, Comilla Medical College, Eastern Medical College are some of the favourite education institutions among Kashmiris.

Officials, however, say that in Bangladesh, over 3000 Kashmir students were studying medical. Nearly 2,300 of them flew back before the lockdown. They said all of them were quarantined in Srinagar’s decorated hotels along the Dal-Lake and other areas declared as quarantine centres by the District Disaster Management Authority. They underwent medical screening and check-ups and went home after completion of the quarantine period.

“The MEA also later revised it’s advisory on foreign returnees – asking for 100% quarantine on arrival. Around 700 students were left back in Bangladesh on the date of closure of international flight operations. Anxious parents approached district administration Srinagar and requests were also received on local call centre launched recently,” says Choudhary. As the students approached him, the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh asked all the Medical Colleges to send the list of students.

As MEA lined up Air India for evacuation, the students were to pay for tickets. But the process got stuck as the government snapped internet and mobile connectivity in Kashmir. Some students said the process of ticket booking was cumbersome as Air India does it by sending a link on the mail, which after approval requires payment and generation of PNR.

Choudhary said he took up the issue with Air India for bulk purchase of tickets by the administration for which the students can pay upon arrival. “MEA and AI agreed to it. District Administration arranged the payment of Rs 28 Lakh per flight to facilitate the students,” he says.

“Some students missed out due to delay in submission of list of Principals of respective colleges. The students forwarded the issue to our call centre which was taken up with High Commission and all efforts being made to ensure all students are home shortly,” he added.

Meanwhile, the first train to bring stranded people to J&K will depart from Bengaluru today, followed by another one from Goa on Monday. Officials say the railways has proposed 40-50 trains for Jammu and Kashmir from different states to move over the next 20 days nearly 50,000 people stranded in different parts of India.

Officials say for stranded people in different states in the country it will take around 50 trains for the Railways to do the job. Officials say after they arrive at Udhampur, passengers will be shifted to their respective district headquarters in buses for quarantine. Each train is likely to bring nearly 1,200 people back to J&K.