Iran-Israel war: ‘It was terrible… felt as if we won't be able to go back', says student who landed in Delhi

Indian Express

4 hours ago

About 150 metres from pillar number 16 at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, where a horde of media persons and anxious relatives await the 290 passengers on their way from Iran on Friday night, a path on the right goes towards the deserted backside of the airport.
At 12.45 am, the area comes to life as Kashmiri students — 190 out of the total passengers — are escorted out by the Jammu and Kashmir police officials towards a line of buses waiting to take them to their home.
They were all onboard the Iranian airline, Mahan Air, the first direct flight from Iran since the war with Israel escalated last Friday.
Jogging towards the buses, with the Tricolour perched on her trolley, is Maria Manzoor, 21, who has been pursuing MBBS for the past 10 months in Iran. 'About a week ago, I was evacuated from my college in Tehran after a lot of devastation happened there. We were shifted to Qom, but there were attacks there too. We were then moved to Mashhad by the embassy officials. We stayed there in a hotel for three days,' says Maria.
Despite the conflict showing no signs easing, a common sentiment among Kashmiri students, as well as others pursuing medicine in Tehran, is that they would go back to their colleges at the first sight of normalcy. 'It was terrible at times. It almost felt as if we won't be able to go back. But then, Tehran is a great place for academics. Of course, I would like to go back and finish my degree there. I'm sure it will happen soon,' she adds.
Fatima Alawi, 22, says that for her, the week passed by in the blink of an eye. 'The attack was so sudden. Dead of the night. And then, the embassy made us evacuate on Saturday. For the last three days, we stayed at a hotel in Mashhad. But what I truly can't believe is that amidst all this, we came on a direct flight to India. It just happened so quickly,' says Fatima, who will now go back to her three anxious siblings and parents awaiting her return in Srinagar.
Back at pillar number 16, relatives of passengers from other states also await their return. Nikhat Begum, 40, a resident of Delhi's Saket, says that her daughter Sadia Sheikh, 22, a second-year MBBS student, had already booked tickets to come to Delhi on September 5 for her holidays.
'Aane jaane dono ki ticket ho gayi thi. (She has booked a roundtrip). Then the attack started last week. I immediately called her and she said she could see missiles in the sky. I was very sacred. She was calm though,' says a teary-eyed Nikhat.
Hasan Mehndi, 40, who works as a labourer in Seelampur, is waiting for his wife Shabnam, 35, who went on a ziyarat (pilgrimage) to Tehran on May 23. 'She was going to come on June 13, but her flight got cancelled due to the attack. But she was there for god's work.
And I had full faith in him,' says the father of four, standing in a circle of men from his family who have come to receive her.
Fharva, 36, has come all the way from Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar to receive her mother, 70, and sister-in-law, 28, who also went for ziyarat and are coming back after 28 days. Fharva says that for the best part of the last week, they were unaware about whether the government will bring her relatives back or they would have to pay for flight tickets themselves.
'We were very stressed, their visa was close to expiring and every expense had to be paid from here. Now, we are relieved. My sister-in-law has young children. We were not able to speak to them as the connection was poor,' she says.
As Fharva's mother comes out on a wheelchair, one of the first passengers of the special flight to head out of the gate, media persons rush to speak to her. She just manages to utter the words 'I am very happy' and starts crying.
Sohail Qadri has also come from Srinagar to pick up his two children studying in Tehran. His daughter, a first-year MBBS student, and his son, who is in the final year of the same course, study at the Iran University of Medical Sciences.
'What could be the first reaction of a father and a mother? When my daughter was at the hostel, and strikes were taking place, there were no bunkers and shelters. She had to run from third floor to the ground floor. Ek baap ke kaleje pe chhuriyan chal rahi thi uss waqt. (It was like daggers were cutting into my heart).'
However, Sohail says government officials should have been here. 'They should have briefed parents about the transport facilities, where to and how to go about it. Things are a little bit chaotic right now,' he adds.
The evacuation process of the 10,000-odd Indian nationals in Iran, codenamed Operation Sindhu, is still underway.