Students back from Iran stare at bleak future; seek govt's help

Three days after Faysal Lateef was woken up in the dead of the night by the sound of explosions caused by Israeli strikes on Iran, he received a message saying all students of the Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) were required to report at 5 am the next morning at a designated spot, from where they would be relocated. Hoping and assuming it would be a short displacement, Lateef, from Budgam district in Kashmir, packed his mobile, laptop and two pairs of clothes and left.

After two days in Qom and another two days in Mashhad, Lateef finally reached Srinagar on Saturday (June 21) night after Iran opened its airspace for the evacuation of Indians. Now, however, Lateef — like many others — is staring at an uncertain academic future. According to the last available data from parliamentary records in 2023, around 1,700 Indian students study in Iran. Most of them are in the medical field, while some are engineering students, according to experts. This is due to both affordability and the intense competition for seats in India.

Also read: 'We heard blasts': Indian student recalls horror and fear after evacuation from Iran

Uncertain future

A final-year MBBS student at IUMS, Lateef was in his “clinical phase” of studies, which involves going to hospitals and working with patients.

“When we were told we had to pack whatever we had and we would be ‘relocated’, we had no idea it meant we would be evacuated. We thought we would be back in a couple of days. I didn’t even take my textbooks. Other students may still get the option of taking online classes, but how will we, final-year students, complete our MBBS without being physically present? We have already spent so much money on it. I hope the Government of India will do something about this,” he told The Federal.

Lateef said the experience in Iran was harrowing as the internet and VPN had been blocked, and even their ATM cards were blocked in Qom, allegedly due to a cyber-attack, because of which they could not buy anything outside of what was being given by the Indian embassy officials.

“At the end of the day, whatever troubles we faced, we are very relieved to be back home. Once we reached Qom, we were treated well and put up in hotels. We could sleep properly without the sound of explosions, which had become routine for us,” he said.

Also read: Families in Lucknow worried as relatives on pilgrimage trapped in war-torn Iran

No clarity

Like Lateef, Benish Fatima is also a final-year MBBS student at IUMS. She was doing ‘rotations’ at various hospitals as part of her course until about two weeks ago. One of the last places she went to was the Shafa Yahyayian Hospital. A few days later, an Israeli strike on a government building right next to the hospital turned it into rubble, she said.

“Unlike everybody else, I missed the explosions on the first night. I just slept through them. But then the strikes started happening during the day. We were all really scared and ready to run, but that was also risky. Finally, because of the Indian embassy, we were taken out of there and came back to India through Qom and then Mashhad. But we didn’t want to come back. Iran is a very peaceful place. We never thought something like this would happen,” she said.

Fatima also expressed concern about her academic future. “We heard that the university wants us back for the rotations next Saturday, but in such a situation, we cannot live. I wrote in our WhatsApp group that I will not travel for the next two weeks at all, and that they can make us do double shifts once we’re back, but there is no clarity yet,” said the resident of Srinagar.

Also read: The multiple casualties of US attack on Iran

Students still in Mashhad

Shakira Manzoor, her classmate from Pattan in Baramulla district, has barely had a chance to breathe and is already worrying about her future. Manzoor was among those who had to make an arduous 23-hour journey from Delhi to Srinagar in regular buses.

“They were not even sleeper buses. It was just a regular bus, and it was a horrible experience after everything we went through. However, our evacuation from Iran was very smooth. We have not heard from our university since they told us that international students should leave. We are worried about how we will complete our degrees,” she said.

According to Manzoor, Indian students from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, and Kerman University of Medical Sciences are still in Mashhad, and scheduled to return in the coming days.

Also read: India debunks claims that US used its airspace for strikes against Iran

Trying times

Umer Bashir Mir, a fourth-year MBBS student at Urmia University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, was supposed to board his flight from Tehran to Delhi on June 13, but due to the escalating situation, his flight was cancelled.

“Thankfully, because I was already planning to go home for vacation, I had given all my exams. But my classmates and seniors are concerned about their future,” he said.

“When my flight got cancelled on June 13, I had no option but to stay with a friend. I had thought I would not be able to go home. While all my classmates were evacuated via Armenia, I came with the students from Qom. We have seen a lot in Kashmir, but we have never experienced anything like this,” he said.