Nearly 100 Indian students stranded in Kyrgyzstan

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, June 14:  As ethnic clashes continued in Southern Kyrgyzstan, the Indian Government is making arrangements to evacuate over hundred Indians, mostly students, stranded in the violence-hit areas where the death toll in five days of rioting has crossed 113.

The Indians, a majority of them students, are trapped in Kyrgyzstan’s southern Osh city, which has been ripped by street fighting and arson.

Indian diplomatic sources in the Kyrgyz capital said the mission is arranging for a special aircraft to fly out the Indians from Osh.

"As soon the situation permits, the Indians will be flown out to safety," sources said.

"Everything possible will be done to ensure the well being and safety of the Indians," the sources told PTI.

The mission was in close touch with those trapped in the violence-hit city as well as with the concerned authorities in that country, including their foreign ministry, to ensure safety of the Indian community.

They said the mission was also closely monitoring the situation in the nearby city of Jalalabad near the Uzbek border, where the authorities yesterday clamped a state of emergency till June 22 and clamped round-the-clock curfew.

 "Some Indians could also be there and attempts are being made to ascertain their welfare," sources said.

Kyrgyz Health officials have put the casualties at 113 deaths, with as many as 1,400 people injured. However, Ferghanaru web site quoting its sources in the Uzbek dominated areas said "death toll runs in hundreds." It said that scores of dead bodies were lying on the streets of small towns which have compact Uzbek population.

The interim president Roza Otunbayeva has also conceded that the death toll could be higher than official figures as the interim government struggles to stem the worst ethnic clashes since the end of the Soviet Union.

Interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva’s provisional government had over the weekend given security forces shoot-to-kill orders to protect civilians, amid growing calls from foreign leaders and aid groups to end the clashes.