Islamabad/Bishkek, May 18: Several Pakistani students were reportedly injured in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek as locals clashed with foreign students. Meanwhile, the first batch of 30 Pakistani students returned to the country from Bishkek on a special plane on Saturday night.
A plane carrying the Pakistani students landed at Lahore airport where Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi received them on Saturday night, while a large number of family members were also present.
Disturbing videos are circling on social media showing locals thrashing South Asian students, mostly Pakistanis.
Violent clashes erupted between student groups in Bishkek, with reports of the attackers using batons to beat the foreign students. The attackers forcefully entered the hostel rooms and beat and wounded several international students, mostly Pakistanis.
The violence erupted following a brawl involving Egyptian students on May 13.
Meanwhile Ary News reported that Deputy Prime Minister (PM) and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is to travel to Bishkek to assist stranded Pakistani students, who were subjected to mob violence, leaving at least five injured.
In another development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Shari has directed Federal Minister Amir Muqam to immediately travel to Bishkek to assist and rescue the Pakistani students affected by the recent violence.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Kyrgyzstan Hassan Ali Zaigham on Saturday raised concerns with Kyrgyz Deputy Foreign Minister Imangaziev Almaz about the safety and welfare of Pakistani nationals.
The ambassador met the Kyrgyz Deputy FM on the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, the Foreign Office Spokesperson said in a press release.
The Kyrgyz minister informed that their authorities had controlled the situation which was now back to normal.
He said that Kyrgyz police was providing security to all the hostels and the matter was being directly supervised by the Kyrgyz President.
Deputy FM Almaz assured the ambassador that the government of Kyrgyzstan would take legal action against the perpetrators yesterday’s attack.
He shared that 14 foreign nationals including some Pakistanis were discharged after first aid while one Pakistani national remained under treatment.
Earlier, Pakistan’s embassy in Kyrgyzstan issued an advisory to the Pakistani students in Bishkek to stay indoors.
“In view of mob violence around student hostels in Bishkek, the embassy strongly advises all Pakistani students in Bishkek to stay indoors until the situation returns to normal,” Pakistan’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Hasan Zaigham wrote on X early on Saturday.
“We are liaising with the local law enforcement authorities to ensure safety of our student fraternity.”
Quoting the Kyrgyz press, the embassy said that the matter boiled over after a video of a fight between Kyrgyz students and medical students from Egypt was shared on May 13.
It said that some hostels of medical universities in Bishkek and private residences of international students including Pakistanis have been attacked. The hostels are inhabited by students from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In a related development, the Kyrgyzstan government has lashed out against “destructive forces in media and social media, especially in Pakistan” for deliberately disseminating “absolutely false and untrue” information about the situation in Bishkek following the clashes between locals and foreign students.
In a statement, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said that the situation in Bishkek on Saturday is “absolutely calm and completely controlled” and that all necessary measures have been taken to ensure security, maintain peace and stability.
It asked the representatives of the media, the blogging community, and their foreign colleagues “to be guided only by official and verified information from the competent authorities of Kyrgyzstan”.
