110 students, evacuated from Iran, board flight to INew Delhi
A flight carrying 110 Indian students, evacuated from Iran, which was expected to reach New Delhi by Wednesday night, will now land past midnight, said a senior officials of Jammu and Kashmir.
The 110 students, including 90 from Kashmir, were evacuated to Armenia on Tuesday.
The government of India had made all the arrangements for the return journey of all these students. These students had left Tehran on Monday and Tuesday morning towards the religious city of Qom.
'Approximately 110 Indian students from Urmia Medical University, including 90 from the Kashmir Valley, and others from different Indian states, successfully crossed the border into Armenia on Tuesday. We have spoken to the students, who safely reached the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and were accommodated at their designated hotels,' said Nasir Khuehami, convenor of Jammu and Kashmir Students Union.
He said that they have been informed by the office of the external affairs minister that all tickets have been arranged free of cost by the Government of India. 'Also, we are receiving information from the ministry that tickets from Delhi to Srinagar are also being arranged to ensure a smooth and complete journey home for the students from Kashmir.'
Khuehami said that the Indian students will arrive on an Indigo-bound flight from Doha to Delhi at around 10:15 pm.
'From Doha, they will board their connecting flight to Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport ) and are expected to reach Delhi at 10:15 pm. There is a possibility that the flight may experience a slight delay,' he said, adding that the association is closely monitoring the situation and remains in constant coordination with the students and authorities to ensure their safe return.
Expressing his gratitude, Khuehami said, 'We are grateful to the Government of India, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar, for launching this timely evacuation effort and for reassuring anxious families back home during this period of uncertainty. We remain hopeful that all remaining students will be evacuated soon.'
'My daughter has been safely evacuated and hopefully they will reach Srinagar tomorrow. We are thankful to Government of India for this,' said one of the parents.
Meanwhile, the association said that the Indian Consulate in Bandar Abbas has requested Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS), Ahvaz Province, to facilitate the relocation of Indian students, including those from Kashmir, amid the prevailing security concerns.
The consulate has asked the university administration to grant permission for the eleven students to leave the campus and travel to Yazd, assuring that it will take full responsibility for their safe movement as per instructions from senior authorities.
Kashmiri students usually opt for Iranian universities because of their affordability and similar cultural milieu. The students are spread in Tehran, Shiraz and Qom. Iran is home to more than 4000 Indian student,s half of them from J&K, who are enrolled in medical and other professional courses.
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At the same time, it accentuated the power struggle within the party between the prime minister and the regional grandees who controlled the machine. Indira Gandhi moved towards a Caesarist style both to undercut her rivals in the party and revive its electoral fortunes. Her decision to split the Congress was undoubtedly a crucial first step. But equally important were the extraordinary performance of her party in the general elections of 1971 and the decisive military victory over Pakistan later the same year. These, in turn, propelled the party to a massive win in the State elections of 1972. None of these could have been predicted when she broke the old Congress. But cumulatively they cemented her control of the party. Without such dominance it is difficult to imagine the party tamely falling in with her decision to impose the Emergency in June 1975. 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