Nepal's students recount horrors after returning from Bangladesh

Communication blackout made it scarier, say students

By ANI

Published: Sun 21 Jul 2024, 5:00 PM

Dozens of Nepali students managed to return to Nepal from violence-hit Bangladesh on Sunday. Upon arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, the returnees could not contain their emotions as they recounted the situation they encountered back in Dhaka.

It had been only three months since Sadiskhya Basnet flew to Bangladesh for her medical studies but had to flee back to Kathmandu due to the rising violence and communication blackout in Bangladesh.

"Back there all the communication means are down, so that the information cannot pass out. All the means of communication have been seized and the situation there is critical," Basnet told ANI upon arrival at the airport on Sunday afternoon.

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Basnet, a medical student in Inam Medical College, claimed that security personnel came in search of the students who participated in the protest to detain them.

"The police used to come to our college during the night in search of those Bengali friends who went to join the protests during the day. We got worried as the phone lines were not working. We were able to contact our family through the consultancy and come back to Nepal after making all the arrangements on our own," Basnet explained.

"Curfew has been imposed. There is no internet and no means of communication. We could not step out of the hostel," she added.

Another medical student Krishpa Rai was relieved to be back home safely.

Rai said that the communication blackout had made it scarier as they could not contact their families.

"We were pretty scared because we couldn't contact our parents. We couldn't contact anyone, all of us were really scared."

As per Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an estimated 3,500 Nepali students are in Bangladesh. On Saturday, the ministry said that approximately 800 Nepali students left Bangladesh for Nepal by air or via land border points.

"We packed our belongings, arranged for the vehicle and moved out in the night all on our own. We stayed at the airport all night, caught our flight in the morning and flew back to Kathmandu," Maulata, another Nepali student said.

Nepal's Foreign Ministry has reiterated the government's commitment to ensuring the safety and security of all Nepali students in the South Asian country that has witnessed violent agitation in the past week.

"The Embassy of Nepal in Dhaka has coordinated with most of the students to facilitate their safe travel from various places in Bangladesh to Dhaka airport or to related border points," the ministry said in a post on X late Saturday evening.

"It has been closely coordinating with universities, authorities concerned and law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh."