Ishtiyaq Ahmed
Srinagar, Apr 1: The beleaguered parents of dozens of Kashmiri students who were evacuated from Iran and were put in a quarantine center at Jaisalmeer, Rajasthan and have completed 14 days mandatory period, have appealed government to air-lift these students back to Kashmir.
The parents also claimed that their children have been tested for the Covid-19 and all of them are negative.
It may be recalled that the demand for evacuation of Kashmiri children studying in Iran had forced Union Minister for External Affairs Minister S Jaishanker to fly to Srinagar to meet parents of children on Mach 9 at SKICC.
The External Minister had assured the parents in stress that their children would be evacuated from Iran, one the worst hit countries of Covid across globe, where hundreds have died so far.
“We had expressed our gratitude to MEA for evacuating our children from Iran. They were then lodged in an army camp at Jaisalmeer, Rasjashthan to complete 14 days quarantine period. Now that it has been 20 days and our children are still in quarantine despite the fact that they have tested negative for the Covid-19,” Shabir Hussain, whose daughter is at the Jaisalmeer army camp since past 20 told Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
He said that the students have no option other than to use the one single washroom as army has its own limitations and can’t help these students beyond a certain limit.
Another parent of a student, who has also completed 14 days mandatory quarantine period in Jaisalmeer, Rajasthan, said that despite remaining in the army quarantine center for 20 days, there is no word from the authorities neither in New Delhi nor in J&K, as to when these ill-fated students would be brought back to their homes.
“All of them were tested for Covid-19 and results came as negative. They were studying in Iran, some of them doing MBBS there while some pursuing other degrees,” the parent, who didn’t wish to be named, claimed.
He appealed to the J&K administration to immediately airlift these students. “If there is need of keeping them in a quarantine facility in Srinagar again, we will cooperate with the J&K admin, but we demand they should be brought back immediately,” said the parent.
The parents of these children have now petitioned Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal through an application seeking immediate intervention for airlifting Kashmir children from Jaisalmeer, Rajashtan. “We have submitted an application to DC Srinagar, but there is no action so far,” Imtiyaz Hussain, another parent said. (KINS)
Kashmiri students evacuated from Iran complete quarantine period in Rajasthan, all test negative
