A large number of Kashmiri students stranded in parts of Madhya Pradesh due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown have been waiting for their safe return to the native places. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh recently wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to make necessary arrangements for the nearly 400 Kashmiri students stuck in Madhya Pradesh. Singh said that as Jammu and Kashmir is under the central rule, it is the Centre’s duty to help the people from that region stranded in different parts of the country. An assistant professor at a private college in Indore, Javid Ahmad Mir, is running a campaign for the return of the students from Jammu and Kashmir. “In Indore alone, nearly 55 students from Jammu and Kashmir have been stranded since over a month due to the lockdown,” Mir said. Apart from college students and PhD scholars, an 80- year-old woman from Kashmir is also stuck in Indore, he said. In his letter, Digvijaya Singh said that 32 students from Jammu and Kashmir are stranded in Bhopal and 17 others in Gwalior. He said they should be taken back to Jammu and Kashmir and quarantined as per the protocol. So far, 1,485 COVID-19 positive patients have been found in Indore, of whom 68 have died during treatment, officials have said. On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a 21-day lockdown, which was later extended till May 3.
