New Delhi: About 70 Kashmiri students stranded at Benapole on the India-Bangladesh border will not be brought back to India, ThePrint has learnt. The students study at a medical college in Bangladesh, according to a video that has gone viral.
. @MEAIndia around 80 students from Kashmir are stuck at India- Bangladesh border at Benapole. India is not letting them enter. They are all passport holders with student visas. Please intervene and let them enter immediately. Don't let them stranded in the midst of a crisis pic.twitter.com/xMB3Bm4SW5
— sucheta de (@sucheta_ml) March 24, 2020
“In view of the advisory on restrictions in movement from other countries into India and within India itself, border crossings are suspended,” an official source said. “The students are therefore advised to go back to their hostels in the interest of their health and safety and also of the community.”
Sources said the principal of the Bangladesh college has denied reports that the students had been asked to vacate the hostel and has confirmed that they would be accommodated in the hostels.
Sources also said that the students reached the border despite being advised against it by the High Commission of India in Bangladesh and knowing fully well the restrictions in force in India due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The Ministry of Homes Affairs (MHA) had late Monday issued an advisory that all integrated check posts (ICPs) at all airports, seaports, land ports, rail ports, and river ports will be closed down to arrest the spread of the deadly Covid-19.
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Not the first time students abroad have sought help
According to the video, the students reached Benapole on the Bangladesh side of the border Monday morning. The students can be seen appealing to Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, to get them evacuated to Delhi from Bangladesh.
This, however, is not the first such case of Indian students studying abroad having got stuck due to the stringent travel restrictions being put in place by the Indian government. All international passenger flights coming into India have been barred from landing here until 31 March.
Last week Indian students studying in the UK literally gate-crashed the Indian High Commission in London and sought refuge, demanding they be sent back to India despite the travel restrictions in place.
The situation had turned into chaos as most of the students had already had their flights booked back to India for later this month, as this is the time when the Easter break period begins at universities in the UK.
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