Indian Govt to buy air tickets for stranded Indians

India has offered to buy air tickets for the return of its 105 nationals lodged in the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek after they were evacuated from violence-hit southern Kyrgz towns, reported Times of India (TOI) on Wednesday.

Over two hundred Pakistani students stranded in the violence-torn Osh city of Kyrgyzstan arrived home on Tuesday and were reunited with their families. On special instructions from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, the students were successfully airlifted out of danger.  Pakistan had sent two c-130 military planes to Kyrgyzstan in order to bring back the stranded students.

Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters here that the offer was made to all the Indians evacuated from Osh and Jalal-Abad, though some of them wanted to remain in Bishkek.

“In accordance with established consular procedures, the Indian Mission in Bishkek has offered to buy tickets for those students who may be facing temporary financial difficulties,” Prakash said, replying to reporters’ queries on the ethnic violence in the Central Asian nation that has claimed over 120 lives, TOI reported.

The spokesperson said in cases where students wanted to return to India for their summer vacations but had financial difficulties due to their sudden evacuation, they would have to hand over their passports to the Indian Mission in Bishkek to avail an emergency certificate and a one-way ticket to India.

“The individual, who avails of the facility, repays the money to the government in due course and gets his passport back. These are the government rules,” he said.

According to TOI, some of the evacuated students had left their passports back in Osh and Jalal-Abad and in some other cases their visas had expired. In all such instances, the Indian Embassy in Bishkek was providing free passport and visa services to facilitate their travel, Prakash said.

“Commercial and chartered flights are operating normally in and out of Bishkek and our Mission is assisting students with the travel arrangements. It is understood that a couple of chartered flights are likely to operate within the coming days between Bishkek and India. We are hopeful that all students who wish to travel to India will be able to do so,” he added.

According to TOI, the spokesperson also emphasised that the Indian Mission in Bishkek had made arrangements for the stay of the evacuated Indian nationals at the students’ hostels in the International University of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek.

“The government’s primary concern in situations of distress for Indian nationals is to get them out of harm’s way by the fastest possible means. This is precisely what was achieved when the Embassy chartered an aircraft to bring our nationals from troubled Osh and Jalal-Abad to Bishkek,” he said, when asked about complaints from the evacuated students that they were not being provided proper facilities of stay and food.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2010.