Amid Taliban rule, Afghan students’ plea to come to India being ignored

For Khatira Hossein, the Taliban's decision to bar girl students from schools and universities is a signal that their future is being played with. Khatira is one among thousands of Afghan students who have taken admissions to Indian universities and found the country as a safe haven amid the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan. After the Taliban returned to the helm of government in Afghanistan, the Ministry of External Affairs in India (MEA) cancelled all existing Afghan visas, many of which were availed by students studying in Indian universities, and initiated an evisa programme.

“I and some other students applied for an e-visa six months ago. Every time we called the Indian Embassy, they gave us only one answer that our application is under process. We have been receiving the same answer and no progress has been made yet,” said Shafiullah, a resident of Kunduz, Afghanistan, who is studying Zoology at Ramjas College.

Karimullah Karimi, a Master of Science student at Savitribai Phule University in Pune, said, “I have everything... from admission to scholarship letters, but our mails to Indian authorities have gone in vain. We also made them aware of the financial, security and infrastructural issues that stop us from getting the full potential of online classes, so that they understand the dire situation we are in.”

The struggle of not being able to attend online classes while also facing financial and mental woes has left the students in despair. “Our University has stopped conducting online classes as most students are now attending the lectures from campus. With only two Afghan students being part of the batch, there's no chance that they will arrange a digital mode of learning just for us. We are also not able to pay our college fees due to transfer issues,” said Noorulhuda Rahimzai, a student from IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, who is currently in Tehran to apply for an e-Emergency X-Misc Visa.

When asked about scholarships being provided to Afghan students, despite many of them not being able to attend lectures in person, Kailash Chand, the Programme Director of the Afghan Scholarship Section in ICCR, said it's the responsibility of the universities whether the Afghan students can attend classes or not. He also added that many of them can avail online classes. “ICCR only awards scholarships to the students who have been selected by embassies in different countries. We aim to continue providing scholarships to the students but it's uncertain how we will go about it in this case. Since we are under MEA, we follow the guidelines that have been mandated,” said Chand said.