Afghanistan students at Cuttack Railway Station on Tuesday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Jan. 18: Ravenshaw University lost much of its Afghan touch with 59 students from the central Asian country leaving for New Delhi today.

They boarded the Rajdhani Express at 9.45am, five days after a campus clash with local students had left three of them injured. One of the injured students Esmaicss was studying BBA at the varsity.

The local students had also attacked journalists covering the January 13 clash. Later following protests, Ravenshaw University Students’ Union leader Harishankar Rout was arrested.

In the wake of the departure of Afghan students for Delhi, speculation is rife that they have quit the university for good. However, official sources said a final decision on their fate would be taken at a high-level meet between officials of the Afghan Embassy and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) after interacting with the students in New Delhi.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said he had asked for a detailed report on the incident and safety of foreigners would be ensured. “The vice-chancellor has invited them to return to the university. We will certainly take care of their safety in future,” he said.

Registrar Smarpriya Mishra said: “The students informed us yesterday that they would be leaving for New Delhi today. We have informed the zonal head of ICCR about the development and appropriate steps would be taken to bring back the students.”

Authorities said efforts had been made to convince the Afghan students to stay back as the local students involved in the brawl wanted the authorities to ensure that their foreigner friends did not go away.

“At this point, it is difficult to say whether the students will return as they have gone to meet the director general of ICCR in New Delhi where they would also discuss the issue with Afghan Embassy officials,” said regional ICCR director Meenakshi Mishra.

“It was a tough decision to quit now. Our course would have been complete by next year. However, due to unavoidable circumstances and inadequate security, we have decided to leave Cuttack for now,” said BBA second-year student Najeebullah Popal.

“As nobody can control the unfortunate incidents, we are leaving today. Moreover, officials of both Afghan and Indian governments do not want the cordial relations between them to be strained,” said another student Abdullah Khodadad.