Nearly two weeks after being trapped in the middle of ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan, two of the four Kerala medical students who were safely evacuated from the southern city of Osh along with other Indian nationals reached their homeland on Monday.
The first among the four to reach the State was Abdul Gafur Parakkal, a medical postgraduate student at National University in Osh. On his arrival at the airport from Delhi, he was received by his brother Rukshaan and one of his relatives. The other person was Fazil Meleth. Anil Mathew and Naufal Mundekkad, studying at the same university, will reach here by train.
Recounting the ordeal, Abdul Gafur said: ‘‘As the clash broke out, I could see the buildings in our neighbourhood burning down and dead bodies lying unburied in streets. It appeared as if the people were prepared for a war as they carried modern weapons, and we were told through the radio that the revolutionaries had contaminated the water and they disconnected our water and electricity supplies.''
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Even foreign nationals were not spared ‘‘as we were robbed of all our money and other articles like laptops and phones,'' he added.
According to him, there were about 80 Indian students at the university and for the first few days they did not get out of their rooms as the clash intensified. Later, they were evacuated on a chartered flight to Bishkek, the capital city, on June 13 . After their evacuation, the Indian Embassy did not provide them food and accommodation facilities.
‘‘The Embassy people initially heeded no attention to our requirements as we continued to fight with the officials for our cause and they even told us to approach a flight chartering agency and book the aircraft at our own cost.'' However, things changed with Union Minister of State for Railways E. Ahamed's intervention. ‘‘Ahamed Sahib was kind enough to contact us four to five times a day and his involvement ensured us the moral support of the Indian Embassy officials,'' said Abdul Gafur said.
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