Srinagar: The Indian Mission in Kyrgyzstan has claimed that the situation in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek has returned to normal and that there are no restrictions either on the movement or transportation of people.
The recent attacks by Kyrgyz locals on foreign students left four Pakistanis dead and around 32 Indians critically injured, prompting the panic-stricken students to seek help from their respective embassies in Kyrgyzstan.
The online videos depicting an altercation between Egyptian and Kyrgyz students on May 13 sparked the attacks. On May 17, four days after the altercation, the angry Kyrgyz locals broke into the Egyptian girls’ hostels and physically assaulted females inside.
The Kyrgyzstan government has expressed regret over the unfortunate incident and pledged to protect foreign students. However, the students pursuing degrees in different medical universities in Bishkek claimed that they were locked inside their hostel rooms after the Kyrgyz natives threatened to kill them if they didn’t leave their country.
Based on the accounts of students, the people of Kyrgyzstan have also expressed regret to the students from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and asked them to continue their studies without fear of violence or threats.
The violence, according to the Indian students who spoke to ‘Kashmir Images’, originated from anti-black prejudice pervasive in Kyrgyzstan, where black people are employed or enrolled in various educational institutions and the locals actively push the government for their “expulsion”.
“Given the back to back attacks in Bishkek, students from Asia and the Middle East continue to feel perturbed even as the situation has returned to normal and no fresh act of violence was reported from any area. Ever since the May 17 riots, we continue to receive lectures virtually,” students, who returned to India, told ‘Kashmir Images’.
They said that Kyrgyz locals after breaking into the dormitory of an Egyptian girls’ hostel in Bishkek, together with a group of enraged local students assaulted female students there, prompting retaliation together from Egyptian students and those from India and Pakistan.
The Consular Section of the Embassy of the Republic of India in Kyrgyzstan advised the Indian students enrolled in different universities in Kyrgyzstan to plan their travel to India in consultation with their respective universities.
The development comes days after the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to consider the immediate evacuation of Indian students, especially those from Kashmir back to India.
Following attacks, the student body had urged the Union Ministry of External Affairs, to take immediate steps to facilitate the evacuation of Indian students stranded in Kyrgyzstan, asserting their safe return should be priority to prevent any further distress or potential harm.
All universities have resumed regular sessions as a result of the Kyrgyz authorities’ prompt action in bringing the situation under control after a series of mob attacks in Bishkek, according to a letter from the Embassy to the JKSA.
The letter further reads that the situation in and around capital Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Republic is stable following swift action from the authorities and that there are no restrictions either on the movement or transportation of people.
“The Manas International Airport in Bishkek remains accessible to Indian students. Air connectivity to India remains operational. There are direct flights to India from Bishkek and also through other cities such as Almaty, Dubai, Istanbul and Tashkent,” Second Secretary (Cons) Susmath V. Anand has said.
