Thousands of foreign students in Bangladesh have been returning home, fleeing campus violence that rocked many universities and cities in Bangladesh last week as students took to the streets in mass protests against high quotas for freedom fighters’ children and grandchildren for coveted government jobs.
Fleeing students, mainly from South Asian countries, arriving in India and Nepal said the situation in Bangladesh was very tense and deteriorating every day in the run up to the weekend.
Staying on meant risking their lives, they said.
“We were cut off from communication with the shutdown of internet facilities. The telephone was not working properly and the internet was closed at the same time. That increased our fear,” said Sadikshya Basnet, MBBS first year student in Enam Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka who has returned to Kathmandu, Nepal.
She said in the initial days of the protests local Bengali students were with them in the student hostels but then left to return to their homes after Bangladesh security forces started interrogating students.
“Only the Nepali students were left in the hostel,” Basnet said. Nepali students said security forces, in search of the protesters, regularly entered the college premises which escalated the terror.
On Saturday, the Dhaka government ordered all offices, schools and other institutions to stay closed for two days. They have also extended a nationwide internet blackout and a curfew that only allows people to leave their homes for two hours in the afternoon to shop for necessities.
The situation in Bangladesh remained tense despite a Supreme Court Appellate Division ruling on Sunday that scrapped a High Court verdict which reinstated a system that reserved some 30% of government jobs for children and grandchildren of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
Students noted protesters were losing their lives as the security forces were using excessive force to contain the agitation. More than 174 had been reported dead as of 22 July, according to unofficial figures as Bangladesh authorities are not commenting on the number of deaths.
While the protests started peacefully on campuses three weeks ago, they turned deadly on 16 July after students at Dhaka University clashed with police.
However, the majority of deaths occurred in the past few days as riot police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and smoke grenades into protesting crowds in several cities.
Students returning home
A statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday said: “Thus far, over 4,500 Indian students have returned to India.
“The High Commission has been making arrangements for security escort for the safe travel of Indian nationals to the border-crossing points. Five hundred students from Nepal, 38 from Bhutan and one from the Maldives have also arrived in India.”
The majority of the 8,500 or so Indian students in neighbouring Bangladesh were mostly enrolled in medical degree programmes, which are considerably cheaper than in India.
An estimated 3,500 Nepali students are enrolled in universities and colleges in Dhaka and other cities in Bangladesh, most of them pursuing medicine – Bangladesh is a preferred overseas destination for Nepali students to study medicine. Others are enrolled in paramedical or agricultural degree programmes.
Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tharaka Balasuriya said on 22 July several Sri Lankan students studying in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka and in Chittagong, had returned to Sri Lanka.
Malaysia said on Monday that it would send a plan to evacuate its citizens from Bangladesh on 23 July, in response to urgent pleas from concerned parents of students trapped there.
After a meeting with the parents of the affected students on Monday, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said 124 Malaysian students in Bangladeshi universities remain trapped in the capital city of Dhaka and neighbouring Mymensingh.
Indian students in Bangladesh
Students from Brahmanbaria Medical College in Bangladesh, just 40 km from the Indian border have been crossing into India via the Agartala-Akhaura check post. Brahmanbaria district in Bangladesh borders India’s Tripura state.
Raima Simrega, a student at Brahmanbaria Medical College who hails from India’s Assam state told University World News on his return to Assam: “The situation was not bad where we were staying (Brahmanbaria Medical College hostel). We were completely safe.
“However, the college notified us that it was shutting down indefinitely. We learnt about the violence in Dhaka and Chittagong, but the total shutdown of the internet made it impossible for us to gather more information.
“We could not call our homes and our family members. They also could not talk to us as the phone and internet lines remained shut. We were living in fear, not knowing what could happen to us. As soon as we got our passports from the college, we immediately came back.”
He noted that the college was providing him and other students with full support, for example for food, as shops had all closed, due to curfew. The college also helped students to get in touch with Indian authorities, as communications had been cut.
A family from the northern Indian state of Haryana expressed concern about their daughter, Tripti Tomar, who is studying at Rangpur Medical College in Northwestern Bangladesh. According to her family, she is currently feeling unsafe and anxious in Rangpur.
Her father Keshav Tomar told University World News: “Their hostel in Rangpur was on the main road. Violence erupted there last Monday. The entire market was closed.
“Later violence started near the hostel as well, making it difficult to even obtain food and water. Eventually, they (students) were advised to return home. Their situation was conveyed to the Indian Embassy, to help them to return home.”
The family is now waiting for her return.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) in a statement on 19 July, in a letter to India’s Minister of External Affairs, Dr S Jaishankar urged the Indian government to take prompt action to ensure the safety and well-being of over 3,500 Kashmiri students studying in various colleges and universities across Bangladesh.
India’s Border Security Force (BSF) Deputy Inspector General Rajeev Agnihotri said in a statement: “Due to the current situation in Bangladesh, Indian students studying in different colleges in Bangladesh are returning.
“Around 150 students have reached the Tripura border on Friday and Saturday. We are expecting that more students may come here in the coming days.
“Senior BSF officials are in touch with other officials and are working to ensure the safe return of the students.”
BSF later said border crossings would be kept open 24 hours a day allowing for the cross over of students and others seeking to return to India.
Nepali students
Hundreds of Nepali students studying in Bangladesh returned to Nepal by both the air and land routes, as living in Dhaka and other cities became risky as the protest intensified every passing day, according to students.
Amrit Rai, spokesperson at Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said more than 1,200 students studying in different universities in Bangladesh returned as of Sunday. While returning by road, crossing through India and then to Nepal. Others were on direct flights from Dhaka to Kathmandu.
The Indian government is also facilitating the Nepali students to return home, he noted.
As many as 340 Nepali students also returned to Nepal from Bangladesh through the Kakarbhitta transit point on Nepal’s eastern border.
Nepali authorities say they encountered difficulties finding out the situation of their students after telephone and internet services were shut down in Bangladesh.
Susmita Kumari, a final year MBBS student in Popular Medical College in Dhaka, is among hundreds of students who returned to Nepal. She had planned to come back home after examinations that were approaching, but the increased violence compelled her to leave Dhaka early.
“Initially, we thought the protests would be subdued early. However, it only intensified,” she told the journalists at Kathmandu airport on Sunday afternoon.
“The college administration started saying they would not be able to provide security if the violence continued. It wanted us to leave the place.”
Nepali foreign ministry officials claimed Nepal’s embassy in Dhaka was providing vehicles for students to reach the airport or the Indian border. However, students said they didn’t receive such support. They took an ambulance arranged by their college administration to get to the airport.
The education consultancies that facilitate enrolment in Bangladeshi academic institutions said Nepali students were finding it hard to stay.
“The situation in Bangladesh is scary. So far, our students are safe and many of them have already returned home,” said Sheshraj Bhattarai, chairperson of the Educational Consultancy Association of Nepal.
The association asked its members to monitor the situation of their students in Bangladesh, but communications difficulties had made it impossible.
University World News Asia Editor Yojana Sharma contributed to this article.
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