SRINAGAR : Families of hundreds Kashmiri students and businessmen, are worried over their safety who are stranded in various countries and states in India.
There are hundreds of Kashmiri students in Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and several other countries, who are stranded there because of travel ban in view of coronavirus.“My nephew is studying in Kyrgyzstan. We don’t know how he lives there. We are worried over his safety,” said Javid Ahmad, a resident of Baramulla said
He said students studying there are living under fear that they may get infected. “They want to return because of travel ban they are now allowed. My nephew told us that they are running short of money. We don’t know who will feed them there,” he told Kashmir Indepth News Service.
One of the students studying at Medical University Kyrgyzstan said their hostels have been turned into quarantine centers.“There are over 800 Kashmiri students here. We don’t know where to go. We are being asked to leave hostels. We have been left at the mercy of God,” the student said.Similarly, Kashmiri students have been stranded in Bangladesh due to the sealing of borders amid the 21-day lockdown announced to combat Covid.“We were asked to vacate hostels by the college administration in Bangladesh, but were not allowed to go India,” one of the students said.
On March 17, the central government temporarily banned the entry of passengers from various corona affected countries as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the virus.To stop the spread of Covid, a 21-day lockdown had been announced in the country, with all flights cancelled and borders with other countries sealed.Similarly, thousands of Kashmiri students, vendors and businessmen are stranded in various parts of the country as domestic flights have also been suspended and bordering of states sealed.“We had tickets from Bangalore to Srinagar on March 25 but could not travel. We are now stuck in a hotel room and as running short of money,” Mohammad Rafi, a student studying in Bangalore said