Unrest in Bishkek: Indian students in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, have recounted alarming experiences amidst the ongoing turmoil. This follows a recent advisory from the Indian embassy in Kyrgyzstan urging students in Bishkek to remain indoors. With violence increasingly aimed at foreign students, most are confined to their quarters, anxiously hoping to return home.
Around 10,000 Indian students are studying medicine in Kyrgyzstan. On Friday, a second-year MBBS student from Beed, Maharashtra, reported that a hostel was attacked during the night, according to the Times of India. The student mentioned that the hostel was located 2.5 kilometers away from his residence. He told TOI, “Video clips are being shared, causing panic.”
A third-year medical student from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, studying at the same college mentioned, shared that they have kept their lights off for over a day and are receiving food deliveries in their hostels as they have been directed to remain inside. “It’s been more than 24 hours since we’ve had our lights off in the hostels.” Many of us haven’t even been able to visit the canteen for breakfast. The college is providing food deliveries to our hostels, and we are required to stay indoors,” the student told TOI. Expressing a desire to return to India, the student noted that if conditions don’t improve, they face the risk of starvation.
“If things don’t get better quickly, they will go hungry. Students fear commuting to college from the hostels after a taxi driver attacked one of them. “We want to go back to India,” said the Indore student, as reported by TOI.
The violence, which apparently began following a clash between local and Egyptian students, shows no signs of abating. Reports from TOI indicate that new messages were being spread by locals on Saturday to rally crowds against foreign students. Indian and Pakistani students have suffered the most from these assaults. “The attackers are targeting based on skin color,” a student from Delhi mentioned, as reported by TOI.
Insiya Hussain, a second-year MBBS student studying in Osh, located 350km from Bishkek, recounted some terrifying experiences. “Our semester exam that was set for Saturday has been delayed,” Hussain told TOI.
A student from Nalgonda, Telangana mentioned that she and several others had moved from their private residences in Bishkek, located 30km away, to the university hostel. “Although there is security at the university, we are still anxious due to the hate speech circulating in Bishkek,” she told TOI during a phone call. The Indian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan has recommended that students remain indoors and contact the 24-hour helpline at 0555710041.
India advised its students in Bishkek last week to remain indoors following reports of mob violence in the Kyrgyz capital, particularly targeting international students from South Asia. The Indian embassy in Kyrgyzstan stated that they are in communication with the Indian students and that the situation has now stabilized. The embassy recommended that Indian students in the city stay inside.
