‘Indian govt friendly, foreign students need not worry’: Afghan diplomat visits GU after hostel attack

On Friday, she met Afghan students, the city police chief, and Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Prof Neerja A Gupta. Prof Gupta told The Indian Express that the meeting was very cordial and they hardly discussed the attack.

“I have told my students that this is their second home as they are studying here. They don’t have to worry about it because we believe in the justice of India and the Indian government. They are friendly. Students have been coming here for the past 20-25 years. There are no issues and they are studying here. We don’t want any incident to happen in the future. I want the safety of all international students,” Wardak added.

“They are calm now and there is nothing that anyone has to worry about because my students have been here since the last five years,” she stated before heading to the police commissioner’s office.

Afghanistan has a great history with India, Wardak asserted. “I am here to tell my students everything is fine.

They don’t have to worry about anything because our Indian government is very friendly, they are looking after their safety issues and they will look (into this matter) in the same way,” she said after meeting students at GU.

About the incident on March 16, the Consul General said, “I don’t know whatever happened and why it happened. There are no issues with our students. They have spent 4-5 years here. All Indians are like brothers and sisters.”

On the poor condition of the international hostels, which have been highlighted time and again, Wardak said, “I have not visited the new hostel (NRI hostel) but I have seen the hostel they were living in before. It was in a bad condition and we had complained about it so many times.”

However, V-C Gupta said the Consul General was “very satisfied” with the new hostel. “She said it was really needed. She was very positive, we hardly discussed this issue (attack). Only general issues were discussed because I was sure that I do not have to say anything with a bias when the police are already investigating the case.

Rather, in the discussion she quoted some old students who had shared that ‘you were like a mother to them’,” Prof Gupta told The Indian Express after the meeting that lasted half an hour.

Currently, GU has seven Afghanistan students, including two who have completed their course and another two who have to clear one or more subjects, the process for which the university is fast-tracking. These four students have been asked to leave the premises within a week. Officials revealed that the pending paperwork of the two students who have finished their course was completed Friday.

In the aftermath of the Taliban’s taking over of Kabul, the admission portal of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) was not opened for Afghanistan students in 2023-24. Hence, no admission from the country has been accepted in the ongoing academic session, ICCR Director Gujarat Surinder Kumar told The Indian Express.

When asked if any concerns were shared by the Consul General in the meeting, Prof Gupta said they only said that I wish the Indian government should open the Visa so that more students can come.

When asked if the students are expected to get a Visa extension, the V-C said, “Out of nine two had already left.

We have told them very clearly not to overstay… Of the rest, four are old students who will leave within a week.

Out of the remaining three, one is a PhD scholar. They will not get an extension. I had told them the day before to return within a week. They are in the process”.

Of the two students who had already left, one returned Thursday while the other on March 19.

Speaking about the incident at the hostel, the Ahmedabad police had told The Indian Express earlier that when protesters arrived on the campus on March 16, “one of the Afghan students slapped one of the locals, who was questioning a security guard about the students offering namaz in the open”. This escalated the situation as agitators responded by attacking the students and resorting to vandalism.

On the possibility of any action against the foreign student seen slapping the outsider, Prof Gupta said, “Since the inquiry is on, I am no one to take a decision at this point. Whatever I say will hamper the investigations. Let us wait for their findings… My main job is to bring in normalcy and confidence, to remove doubts, and to address all the credibility issues. An internal committee has also been formed which is doing their job”.