SRINAGAR: As many as 90 students from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) arrived in New Delhi on Thursday as part of the 110 Indian nationals evacuated from war-affected Iran. The students thanked the Indian government for their safe evacuation, but expressed displeasure over the transportation arrangements provided to them, prompting action from the J&K administration.J&K Students Association national convenor Nasir Khuehami said Kashmiri students who had reached Delhi were not provided airport transportation, unlike students from other states. “They are being asked to travel in SRTC buses. They are exhausted after travelling continuously for the past four days. This is deeply disappointing,” Khuehami said.This prompted J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to announce that the students would be ferried from Delhi to the Union Territory in deluxe buses.In a post on X, the chief minister’s office said the resident commissioner had been directed to arrange deluxe buses of the Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport Corporation to transport the students.“The Chief Minister has taken note of the request of the students evacuated from Iran regarding the quality of buses arranged to transport them from Delhi to J&K,” the office said.“The Resident Commissioner has been tasked with coordinating with the JKRTC to ensure proper deluxe buses are arranged,” it said.Abdullah shared the post from his official X handle.Notably, the students arrived in Delhi from Doha early on Thursday after being flown to Armenia a day earlier.At least 1,300 students from J&K are studying in various educational institutions in Iran.The parents of these students remain concerned about their safety amid rising hostilities between Iran and Israel, as both countries have exchanged missile fire over the past week.One of the hostels of an Iranian university was hit by an Israeli missile, with two students from Kashmir sustaining shrapnel injuries.The distressed parents have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to ensure the safe evacuation of all students from Iran.Khuehami told TNIE that in addition to the evacuation of 90 students to New Delhi from Armenia, 250 others had been relocated to the safer city of Qom. These students, he said, would be evacuated to Armenia and later airlifted to New Delhi. All the students evacuated so far to Armenia and Qom were studying in Tehran.Khuehami also added that the Indian Consulate in Bandar Abbas had requested Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS), located in Ahvaz province, to facilitate the relocation of Indian students, including those from J&K, in light of the prevailing security concerns.The Consulate, he said, had asked the university administration to grant permission for eleven students to leave the campus and travel to Yazd, assuring it would take full responsibility for their safe movement as per instructions from senior authorities.
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