Pakistani student thanks Indian embassy for evacuating her

A Pakistani student has thanked the Indian Embassy in Kyiv and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping her in getting evacuated from the conflict zone in Ukraine. The student Asma Shafique is currently on her way to Western Ukraine for further evacuation.

“I am really thankful to the Indian Embassy of Kyiv and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for evacuating me. Thank you so much for support,” Shafique told ANI.

Shafique’s message comes days after a stranded Pakistani student accused the Pakistan embassy in Ukraine and the Imran Khan government of abandoning its nationals stranded in Kharkiv.

“We are the future of Pakistan and this is how they treated us in this difficult time. When the war broke out, the university administration shifted those living in apartments to hostel basements. I stayed with some 120 students from Nigeria, China, India and even some local Ukranians,” Arshad told Pakistani daily The Dawn while adding that they couldn’t leave the shelter due to air strikes throughout the day and night.

On March 4, she approached the Indian embassy and boarded a bus to Ternopil city with 25 Indian students. “I was the only Pakistani in a bus full of Indian students,” she said. She said she later reached the Romanian border but not without another set of harrowing experience.

Arshad also dismissed the Pakistan government’s claim of having evacuated 1,475 Pakistani nationals stuck in the war zone and said it was “fake news”.

Apart from Indians stranded in Ukraine, the Indian government has also been evacuating Pakistani and Nepali nationals as part of its rescue mission – Operation Ganga.

Roshan Jha, a Nepali student who was recently evacuated from Kharkiv, said after learning about India’s Operation Ganga, he had requested the Indian evacuation team and the Indian embassy in Poland to include him in the list of evacuees.

Jha also accused Nepal’s government of doing nothing to evacuate its nationals from Ukraine.