Caught in Iran crossfire, Kashmiri students wait for a passage home

In a few weeks, Syed Aiman Zahra, 24, was supposed to be flying home to Kashmir after completing her medical studies in Iran.

A final-year undergraduate medical student at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran’s southwestern city of Shiraz, Zahra has spent nearly six years studying in Iran. Her final examination was scheduled for June 19 and her father was expected to join her five days later.

Instead, on Tuesday afternoon, Zahra was among the 200 Indian students relocated to the city of Yazd, more than 450 km north of Shiraz. Four days earlier, Israel had launched a surprise attack on Iran’s top military leadership, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile programme.

Around 1,500 Indian students, most of them from Jammu and Kashmir, are studying medicine, engineering and religious studies among other subjects in Iran.

“We are in a hotel right now,” Zahra told Scroll in an interview over text messages. Following Israel’s attacks on Friday, the internet speed in Iran has gone abysmally slow. “My family is under a lot of stress because of all this. But I am trying to convince them that everything is alright.”

Indian students say there is little clarity on whether they will be moved out of Iran.

Indian Embassy authorities in Iran have relocated most of the...

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