Kashmiri students who returned to Delhi on Thursday, June 19, 2025, morning from Iran refused to board the buses for Srinagar that were arranged by the Jammu and Kashmir government, which the students said were unfit for travel.
On Thursday morning, the first Indigo Airlines flight under Operation Sindhu landed in Delhi with 110 Indian medical students from Urmia university, Iran.
Some 94 of the 110 students hailed from Kashmir.
The Indian embassy in Iran had evacuated these students from Urmia to neighbouring Armenia on June 17.
They were then flown aboard a special Indigo flight from Armenia to Delhi.
The Indigo flight first landed in Doha, Qatar, and from there another Indigo flight brought the 110 students to Delhi on Thursday.
"We were happy to reach home, but that soon turned into disappointment," Sabah Rasool, who was on the flight to Delhi, told this correspondent.
"The bus sent by the Jammu and Kashmir government for us was in a bad condition. There were no proper seats and there was no way we could board it," she added.
"Students refused to board the bus and many of us bought flight tickets on our own to reach Srinagar," Sabah said.
"We were told that we would be taken care of when we reached Delhi. But we did not find a single Kashmiri government official who could guide us," another Kashmiri student said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We were so tired but they wanted us to travel another 20 hours by bus to Kashmir, and that too a bus in a broken state."
"What was the point of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's assurance that Kashmiri students would be safely taken back to Kashmir?" the student asked.
"Nobody from his government came to Delhi to meet us and instead sent this third class bus," the student, clearly annoyed, added.
'The chief minister has taken note of the request of the students evacuated from Iran regarding the quality of buses arranged to transport them from Delhi to J&K,' Abdullah's office subsequently tweeted,
'The resident commissioner has been tasked with coordinating with the JKRTC to ensure proper deluxe buses are arranged.'
© 2025