Mehbooba Mufti urges PM to evacuate J&K students stranded in Iran
Parents in the Valley say the government should take urgent steps to bring the students back safely
With tensions continuing to escalate in West Asia, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the safe return of students from Jammu and Kashmir stranded in Iran.
Mufti wrote on X that as the situation rapidly deteriorates in Iran, “thousands of students from J&K studying there are currently stranded.”
“Urge PM @narendramodi ji for his personal intervention to ensure their safe passage home and also request @MEAIndia and @DrSJaishankar to initiate evacuation efforts at the earliest,” she said. Mufti’s appeal comes amid growing concerns among parents in Kashmir who are urging authorities to facilitate the safe return of students to India.
On Saturday, several parents met the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, demanding that their children be evacuated from Iran.
Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association said that although advisories were issued on February 23 urging Indian nationals to leave Iran due to rising tensions, a considerable number of students were unable to depart.
The student body said this was mainly due to ongoing semester examinations and two Iran-wide national examinations of significant academic importance — the Uloompaya (Comprehensive Basic Science Examination) and the pre-internship examination — scheduled for March 5.
Parents in the Valley say the government should take urgent steps to bring the students back safely.
“My two children study there. When the advisory was issued, I brought my daughter back. But the university did not allow my son to leave, and now he is stranded there. We request the government to bring him back to India. We are very anxious about his safety,” said a parent from Srinagar.
He added that parents were thankful to authorities for shifting students to Qom. “We don’t know what will happen in the coming days. We request the government to bring them back,” he said.
Parents also said many students are running short of money and, due to disruptions, families are unable to send funds to Iran.
