The war wasn’t on TV, it was outside my window: Indian students trapped in Iran await evacuation

“The war wasn’t on television. It was outside my window,” she said.

The student, who has since been moved to Qom — about 200 kilometres from Tehran — for safety, said their dormitory experienced a blackout and students were unable to eat or sleep for two days. “Our dean came on Friday and said the dorm is the safest place. But the situation got worse. They started moving students to bunkers and basements back in Tehran across universities. We’re safe for now, but terrified.”

As the Israel-Iran conflict entered its fourth day Monday, Indian students — many from Jammu and Kashmir — found themselves caught in the crossfire of a war between two countries they have no stake in. “We are just here to study,” the 22-year-old said. “And now we are a part of a war between two countries we don’t even belong to.”

Another 22-year-old second-year MBBS student from Kashmir, also at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, said her dormitory’s windows had shattered. “I don’t even know exactly what’s happening,” she said. “But we’ve been awake for four nights now. Today, they bombed a place near our university. It was really bad.”

A student at Shahid Beheshti University, also from Kashmir, said they spent Saturday in the underground section of their residence. “The noise did not stop at all… It’s like living in a war movie, but we’re in it. We panicked for a day because we heard that Iran’s defence system was down,” she said.

“Our universities are providing us with food and other support, but we want our government to initiate evacuation. We are looking at students from other countries being evacuated and we want to request the Government of India to do the same,” said another second-year student of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences from Kashmir.

“I haven’t been able to keep in touch with my family regularly as the internet connectivity is very poor here. My family is very worried about me. My mother has not stopped crying for two days now,” she added.

On Monday, the Indian Embassy in Iran is learnt to have sent communications to the Arak University of Medical Sciences and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences asking them to “facilitate the evacuation” of Indian students. “We have made arrangements for their evacuation. They may be permitted to leave the university, as being facilitated by the Embassy of India, Tehran. The Embassy of India, Tehran, takes responsibility for this planned movement and security of Indian students,” it said.

It was unclear if the Indian Embassy had sent similar communications to the other universities too.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in its statement, said the Indian Embassy was “continuously monitoring the security situation and engaging Indian students in Iran to ensure their safety”. “In some cases, students are being relocated with the Embassy’s facilitation to safer places within Iran. Other feasible options are also under examination. Further updates will follow. Separately, the Embassy is in touch with community leaders regarding welfare and safety,” it said.

According to the MEA’s estimated data of Indian students studying abroad, in 2022, about 2,050 students were enrolled in Iran, mostly for medical studies, at institutions like the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University and Islamic Azad University.

The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) said two students from Kashmir were injured in a strike near the Hujjat Dost dormitory for international students at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences on Sunday evening. Both are stable and were shifted to Ramsar, it said. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the JKSA appealed for “urgent intervention and evacuation” of the students, calling it a “humanitarian emergency”.

In Kashmir, parents of those studying in Iran also appealed to the government to initiate evacuation. “For two days, there was no panic there… But since yesterday, they have started to panic and are now asking us to evacuate them… We are far away from them, as the missiles strike there (in Iran), our hearts pound here. It seems to be an endless wait,” said a parent.

Another parent said he was on a call with his daughter in Iran when a missile strike happened. “I could hear the fear in her voice,” he said.

In a post on X, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he had spoken to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the matter. He said Jaishankar assured him that the MEA was “in close contact with their counterparts in Iran & will take all necessary steps to safeguard all Indian students” there.

The J&K government has also set up a control room for the families of those studying in Iran.

“I am in regular contact with my daughter,” said a resident of Uri whose daughter is at Shahid Beheshti University. “We want our children to be evacuated, but there is no word from the government yet… If the government could send several flights to Ukraine to evacuate students from there, why not our children,” he said.

“My daughter said the Indian Embassy has asked them to be ready to be moved to a safe location… they haven’t disclosed the location,” he said.

Some universities are learnt to have begun relocating students to smaller cities like Qom and Ramsar, but many remain in high-risk areas. “We only got moved after the bombing came very close and some students got hurt… Until then, we were told to stay put in the dormitories or asked to approach the Indian Embassy,” said a Tehran University of Medical Sciences student who is now in Qom.

“We just want to go home. Before it’s too late,” the 22-year-old said.