Scores of Indian nationals stranded in Iran, a majority of them Kashmiri students, are travelling to Armenia for their onward journey to India on commercial flights, amid allegations that New Delhi has yet to put a full-fledged evacuation plan in place.
Student bodies coordinating with those stranded said that around 100 of them have been permitted to return via the Armenia route, where they are required to cross the Iran border for the onward journey to India. The stranded students have been sending distress calls for help for days and seeking evacuation amid relentless bombing of Iran by the US and Israel.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association said in a statement that senior officers in the external affairs ministry had conveyed to them that there was "currently no formal evacuation plan in place for Indian students in Iran" and "those returning at present are travelling through commercial flight arrangements".
The association said the first batch of students would return on March 14 and 15. About 1,000 to 1,200, mostly medical students, from Jammu and Kashmir are stuck in Iran.
Association convener Nasir Khuehami said the students would travel to Armenia’s Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan via the land route before boarding commercial flights to India. "The (100) students have already booked their flight tickets and are expected to depart for the Armenia border on Thursday from different parts of Iran, mostly from the city of Urmia," he said.