The Indian embassy in Tehran has evacuated 110 Indian students, mostly from Jammu and Kashmir, from Iran to Armenia amid escalating tensions in the region, offering some respite to the families that are now waiting for the safe return of their children to India.
The external affairs ministry has advised other Indians in Tehran, who have means of transport, to move out of the city because of the developing situation.
Ninety of the 110 students who were evacuated to Armenia are from Jammu and Kashmir, and they are expected to return to India in a day or two.
Some 4,000 Indian nationals, about half of them students, are believed to be in Iran. Jammu and Kashmir residents have a disproportionately higher share, with a prominent student body here putting the number of students at 1,300. They are enrolled in medical, engineering and other colleges in Iran.
The students evacuated were all from Urmia University of Medical Sciences in the West Azerbaijan region of Iran.
Tamheed Mughal, one of the evacuated students, said they were all safe in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and did not encounter any issues during the journey.
“We left the university at noon yesterday (Monday) local time and reached the border around 6pm. The crossing took some time because of the required formalities. We travelled during the night and reached the capital during daytime today (Tuesday),” he told The Telegraph over the phone from Yerevan. “Our university is not that far from the Armenian border. But students in Tehran and other places are traumatised. We hope they, too, will be evacuated.”
The distance between Urmia and Yerevan is 550km.
Mughal said all their expenses, including those incurred on travel, were borne by the Indian embassy. “We are returning to India in a day or two,” he said.
Nasir Khuehami, coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association which is playing a key role in their evacuation, said other students and their parents were worried. “We are continuously on it, reaching out to all who matter and can help. We pray all students are safe as the war is showing no sign of abating,” he said.
Khuehami said some 600 other students, primarily from Kashmir, reached the Iranian city of Qom on Monday evening. “They left Tehran on Monday morning and will stay in a hotel for three days. This has been arranged jointly by the university and the Indian embassy,” he said.
The external affairs ministry said in a statement that the Indian embassy was continuously in touch with the community to extend all feasible assistance.
The statement did not mention the number of students who had been moved out of Tehran. The ministry has set up a control room to facilitate the return of Indians.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had earlier sought the Centre’s intervention for the safe evacuation of those hailing from Jammu and Kashmir.
Omar has also spoken to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar to press for their return.
Two Kashmiri students were reportedly injured in an Israeli strike two days ago near their college, sparking panic among the families. A Kashmiri student from a medical college in Tehran, in a video uploaded on social media, said two students were mildly injured in the boy’s dormitory.
