Three countries in 4 days, finally safe home from Kyrgyz violence

UJJAIN/BARWANI/KHARGONE: Five youngsters from Madhya Pradesh were in the first group of around 19 Indian medical students who fled the violence in Kyrgyzstan and reached home on Sunday. They are worried for their friends back in Bishkek, especially those living in rented apartments as they have no security.
Ravi Sarathe, Vivek Sharma and Rohit Panchal of Ujjain, Chetan Malviya of Barwani district and Kushagra Sawaner from Khargone returned to their relieved families, having endured a marathon four-day journey.
Chetan, who is in his eighth semester of MBBS, had issued a video a few days earlier, pleading with the Indian govt and Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav to evacuate them. "We reached Bishkek airport on May 22 but were not allowed to enter. A rumour spread that there was a bomb on the flight. I hired a cab for Almaty in Kazakhstan, 425 km away, along with two students from Bharatpur and Dausa in Rajasthan," Chetan, who is from Chachariya village, told TOI.
They arrived in Almaty at 2pm on May 23, only to find there were no flights that day. "So, we left for Tashkent (capital of Uzbekistan, 815km away) at 8:45am on May 24. After reaching Tashkent, however, we had to wait 20 hours at the airport for a flight to Delhi. We landed in Delhi at 12:15pm on May 25, where my elder brother Gaurav welcomed us," he said.
‘Extremely worried for our friends who are still in Kyrgyz’
Ujjain’s Ravi Sarathe recalled the wave of fear that swept over all foreign students when news broke of the violence in Kant city, about 25km from Bishkek, on May 17. All the students locked themselves in their hostel as mobs prowled the streets, he said.
“It was a nightmare. We never thought something so extreme could happen. Overnight, the behaviour of locals changed and they refused to offer any help. It was frightening. Though violence broke out in Bishkek, it was spreading very fast.
The condition of students living in flats is worse because they are under attack and there is no security for them,” said Sarathe. On May 21, CM Mohan Yadav spoke to all the three students in a video call. “The three of us and 14 other Indian students from other states boarded a bus and crossed over the border to Kazakhstan. We were lucky to escape,” said Rohit Panchal, recalling how local children jeered at them on the streets while they were boarding a bus to leave hostel. “We chose to go to Kazakhstan to escape the violence in Kyrgyzstan.
There was no sign of the violence stopping and we felt a section of local people had developed a sense of hatred for us. Those who were once friendly turned violent. The videos circulating on social media were frightening and we were extremely worried for our safety,” said Vivek Sharma.
They are very worried for their friends who are still in Kyrgyzstan. University hostels have strengthened security but locals are entering flats and houses and beating up foreign students, they say. Students staying on their own have run out of grocery and essential supplies, said all five students. Many universities in Kyrgyzstan have switched to online classes because of the violence.
Foreign students are barred from stepping out of their hostels or rooms. Chetan said he has exams from Aug 15, which he will appear online. He hoped that all 1,200 MP students would be back home by June 5. One of Chetan’s friends, Yogesh Chaudhary, was due to leave for India on Sunday. Khargone’s Kushagra Sawaner said he could return home with the help of the Indian Embassy. The situation is improving there but due to safety reasons he came home, he said.