Students Shifted Out Of Tehran, J&K Parents Thank PM Modi

After four sleepless nights, the Qadri family in uptown Srinagar has got some relief. Their son and daughter, students in a medical college in Tehran who got stranded there amid heavy bombing, have finally been evacuated. 

"This morning, my daughter and son were taken to a safe place from Tehran. It has been a traumatizing time for us. Yesterday, when I spoke to my daughter, she was too terrified as a bomb fell near her college," said Suhail Qadri. 

Mr Qadri's son and daughter are perusing MBBS at a medical college in Tehran.  

After hostilities broke out between Iran and Israel, scores of families in Kashmir have been worried about the safety of their wards who are pursuing professional degrees in Iran. 

Mr Qadri is all praise for the Indian Embassy in Tehran and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for their efforts to shift the students out of Tehran. 

"I'm extremely thankful to our embassy staff in Tehran. An embassy official called me yesterday and assured that all stranded students, including my daughter and son, will be shifted to a safer place. Today, they have shifted to some safer location," he said. 

Yesterday, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah spoke to Mr Jaishankar on the issue of stranded students. 

Mr Abdullah said the minister assured him that his ministry is in close contact with their counterparts in Iran and will take all necessary steps to safeguard Indian students. 

The parents had also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the External Affairs Minister to intervene and facilitate the safe return of Indian students. On Sunday, scores of families gathered in Srinagar demanding government intervention as they received desperate calls from their stranded children, pleading for immediate evacuation.

According reports, there are around 1,300 Kashmiri students in Iran, pursuing professional courses, primarily MBBS. Most of them are stranded in Tehran, Shiraz, and Qom. Many Kashmiri students were stranded at the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran.