They are stuck due to Covid pandemic, want Home Minister and Lt-Governor of J&K to help them out
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – J&K Students Association Tuesday wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah and J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to facilitate travel of around 100 Kashmiri Medical and Engineering students to Pakistan stuck in the valley due to Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement, association secretary Danish Lone said that students were asked for NOC/clearance at immigration to study in Pakistan.
He said that students were neither allowed to travel to Pakistan through Wagah Border Crossing nor were allowed to travel via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, despite possessing all travel documents. Students were supposed to travel back to Pakistan by 17th of March this year. However, they were stopped by Indian immigration authorities as they asked them to provide NOC from MHRD and MHA respectively.
The association said on 17th of March this year, a list of 349 citizens from J&K were approved by the Ministry of External Affairs to travel to Pakistan.
After reaching Attari-Wagah Border, students were stopped and told that their list is yet to reach them. The Indian immigration authorities allowed about 124 other passengers in which 81 were from Pakistan and the rest were hailing from other states of India.
The students from J&K were first asked to wait, then in the evening they were told that the policy for travelling from India to Pakistan has been changed on 16th of March.
Authorities were supposed to inform the students regarding any change because it affected them directly.
The Immigration officer who stopped the students told them that as per the orders of the Ministry of External Affairs they would be allowed only after they get NOC from MHRD and MHA.
Khuehami added that the students approached the MHRD Ministry where they were told that there are no such orders either from the Ministry of Home Affairs or from the Ministry of External Affairs.
Many Students have their final year exams scheduled and even missed their term exams. If students are not be allowed to travel to Pakistan on time to attend colleges and universities, they will miss the upcoming exams as well. The future of hundreds of students is at stake, Khuehami said.
Khuehami requested Home Minister Amit Shah and J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to take immediate steps to resolve the issue on humanitarian grounds.