Thousands flee as foreign students come under mob attack

Thousands of Pakistani students, some of them with injuries, have been evacuated from Kyrgyzstan in the wake of violent mob attacks that have mainly targeted international medical students in the country’s capital city Bishkek but have left all foreign students feeling insecure.

Those still in Bishkek are confined to dormitories at universities in the city as advised by their embassies, with many saying the tensions leading to the violence remain unresolved.

Around 3,600 Pakistani students were repatriated as of 22 May on several special evacuation flights in an operation that is ongoing even as Kyrgyz authorities have insisted the situation in Bishkek is now calm.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar during a visit to Bishkek on Tuesday 21 May said he expected the total number repatriated to reach 4,000 by mid-week.

Some returning Pakistani students blasted their government for not taking timely steps to help them. “Our embassy did not do anything; we have returned on our own to save our lives,” Akhtar Zaman, a medical student at Bishkek’s International University of Kyrgyzstan, told University World News on his return to Pakistan this week.

Other foreign students, who largely comprise students from India and a lesser number from Bangladesh, have also fled the Central Asian country of their own accord, without waiting for official evacuation flights, so that the official numbers of those leaving represents a conservative estimate.

Medical students targeted

Kyrgyz police said they mobilised forces in the capital at the weekend to quell violence which began on Friday 17 May and continued on 18 May during which hundreds of Kyrgyz men attacked buildings housing foreign students.

One of the buildings attacked on 18 May – by “looters and hooligans”, according to official sources – was the dormitory of the faculty of medicine at the International University of Kyrgyzstan. Around 1,200 Pakistani students are enrolled at the university.

The attacks were reportedly triggered by a fight between locals and Egyptian nationals on 13 May after their hostel came under attack. The violence erupted when the video of the altercation spread.

According to Kyrgyz authorities, the police detained four Egyptian citizens, placing them under house arrest. A criminal case was initiated under the charge of ‘hooliganism’ in the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, according to an official statement.

According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health, 41 victims sought medical help as a result of the “mass brawl” on 17-18 May.

Ahmed Helmy, a member of the General Union of Egyptians Abroad and the Arab Students Union in Kyrgyzstan, told Egyptian media 1,500 Egyptians are currently studying in Bishkek.

Students attacked with batons, knives

Ansar Alam, a medical student at Kyrgyz State Medical Academy, who also came under attack, returned from Bishkek this week, landing at Islamabad Airport to head for his home in Muzaffarabad city in the Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir region.

He told University World News: “Local students were attacking us with iron rods, batons, knives and anything they had, and intended to kill us.

“We were running like anything to save our lives and ran away from our residences to hide at different places. Some of us were not even able to pick up [our] passports and rushed to airports to leave the country as soon as possible.”

Noor Fatima, a third-year student of medical science at Bishkek Medical College, who hails from Rawalpindi, Pakistan and returned to Islamabad on 19 May, told University World News: “It was a terrifying scene there and we had to hide ourselves in restrooms. Local students were very hostile, but our teachers helped us; they provided us [with] food and shelter and helped us escape [from] the hostel to the airport.”

Indian student calls for evacuation

Although the Indian government initially asked its students to stay indoors in the wake of the attacks, it has now stressed that things are back to normal and that students are safe. The re-assurance has largely failed to alleviate the fear and insecurity felt by Indian students and their parents and guardians back in India, some of whom are calling for an evacuation.

Raj Solanki, from the Ujjain District in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, is also studying in Bishkek. In a video message he requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to evacuate Indian students as soon as possible, saying: “We are very worried. We have to hide as local students barge into the hostels and assault us. Our main priority is to reach India as soon as possible. Our embassy is also continuously advising us to remain indoors. It is difficult to study in such a tense atmosphere.”

Around 28,800 foreign students are studying in Kyrgyzstan, according to the country’s Deputy Minister of Education and Science Rasul Abazbek-uulu who addressed a press conference on 20 May. Most are from India (15,000) though not all are based in Bishkek, Pakistan (10,000) and Bangladesh. Many are studying at medical schools.

Many Indian students in Bishkek have said the recent incidents of violence had little direct connection with Indian students but they were caught in the crossfire and came under attack as the atmosphere in the city became tense.

Students pointed to an atmosphere of fear among those living off-campus. Lucky Charan from Chittorgarh in the Indian state of Rajasthan, studying for a medical degree in the Kyrgyzstan capital, told University World News: “Foreign students are being targeted by local students. They have entered the hostels at many places and assaulted us. The situation is calm now, but we don’t know what might happen next.”

Charan said the situation is fine during the day, but fear arises during the evening as the local students usually attack only after sunset.

Classes moved online

The attacks have occurred as exams are underway or about to begin in Kyrgyzstan universities. Students said their universities have postponed exams.

Abazbek-uulu said orders have been issued for online classes to continue for a week to ensure students can stay in their dormitories and other places of residence. “Together with the rectors of universities, work is underway to ensure the safety of students, including those living in rented apartments, hostels and other places,” he said on 20 May.

The ministry will also allow students, except for those in their final semester, to return to their home countries while still being able to participate remotely in examinations, he said.

Asylbek Aidaraliev, president of the International University of Kyrgyzstan, told local television news the students at his university were stressed.

“So now they can’t continue with their classes. We’ve moved everything to online classes, and we agreed that these would be accessible in Pakistan,” he said, noting that exams would begin in the next 25 days or so at his university. He expressed the hope that students would eventually return.

Abazbek-uulu said whether foreign students would return in the autumn would depend on the country itself, noting that as a result of the country’s policies over the past 20-30 years Kyrgyzstan was perceived in those [South Asian] countries as an education hub where attitudes towards international students were good. “We created that reputation and we must not lose that reputation,” he told the media this week.

“All government agencies in Kyrgyzstan will work together to bring them back,” he said.

Anti-foreigner sentiment

In a television address to the nation on Monday 20 May, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov insisted the perpetrators of the violence would be brought to justice. “Efforts were made to stop the young people who came out on the night of 18 May, and to prevent the further escalation of the situation and more serious incidents,” he said.

He added that “the hot-blooded youth” who gathered on that night were not dispersed by force. “That’s because we had intelligence that some of them were armed and intended to provoke unexpected mass unrest.”

But he also said young people were justified in demanding “tough measures” against illegal immigration – a reference to the anti-foreigner sentiments that fuelled the attack.

Kyrgyz authorities recently began to expel foreigners working illegally in the country. On 16 May Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security announced the arrest of 28 alleged illegal Pakistani workers in a sweatshop, according to news reports.

At around the same time, Bishkek police reportedly shut down delivery services being conducted by more than 400 foreign students on motorcycles and scooters, citing traffic safety concerns.

Situation remains tense

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday 19 May during a nationally televised press conference: “The situation in Bishkek is now normal and things are under control as my Kyrgyz counterpart has phoned me and apprised [me] of the latest situation.”

Students who have left the country say they do not believe statements that things are back to normal and will not return until they are sure. The problem has been exacerbated by disinformation which has caused panic, a factor that Japarov alluded to in his address.

Returning Pakistani students told reporters at airports that they believed the government was not telling the truth and that the situation in Kyrgyzstan was very dangerous for international students. Footage from airports showed that some of the students returning to Pakistan had head injuries. They were reportedly fearful owing to false rumours of student deaths and rapes during the attacks.

On 18 May the Pakistan embassy in Kyrgyzstan said on X: “There had been light injuries to some of the Pakistani students but there is no death nor any incident of sexual harassment.”

Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, told University World News that what had happened in Kyrgyzstan was “very tragic and condemnable”.

He noted “We have brought back over 500 students [as of 20 May] and the remaining ones will also be brought back to the country except those who themselves wish to stay there.”

Tarar said: “Although the situation in Bishkek seems to have calmed down, we can arrange admission and accommodate the students here in Pakistan if they do not wish to return to Kyrgyzstan.”

He said the Pakistan government would first obtain assurances from the Kyrgyz government before Pakistani students return “so that nothing such as this happens again and that the ones who created turbulence are brought to justice”.

“Security and safety of international students must be ensured before Pakistani students return to Bishkek,” Tarar stressed.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed “deep concern over the situation of Pakistani students in Bishkek”. In a message on 18 May on X, he said his office “is also in touch with the Embassy and constantly monitoring the situation [in Kyrgyzstan]”.

A ‘loss for international education’

University World News contacted a number of faculty members at various universities in Bishkek, but they preferred not to comment on recent events, given the sensitivity of the situation.

However, Zabta Khan Shinwari, a professor of biotechnology at Islamabad’s Quaid-e-Azam University who has visited Kyrgyz universities several times to deliver technical presentations, told University World News the attacks would have a negative effect on internationalisation of higher education.

“What we have seen is not the culture of Kyrgyzstan. These violent events against international students have dealt a severe blow to internationalisation of education there. It will take a very long time to restore confidence. The number of international students may drop significantly there. More than the loss to Kyrgyzstan, it is a loss for international education,” said Shinwari.

Dr Mohamed Salah, Founder and CEO of Future Group for Study Abroad and Educational Services, which advises Egyptian students, told University World News: “The position of about 1,000 Egyptian students now is divided between those who do have some courage and integrate again into society because no direct harm happened to them and other students who are afraid of integrating again for fear that any harm will happen to them,” Salah said.

“The students must overcome the shock to live a normal life,” Salah said.

“This is an emergency event that will not have permanent impact on foreign students in Kyrgyzstan, and the evidence for that is that some Arabs and Egyptians are already in the streets of Bishkek [going about their business] without anyone harming them,” Salah said.

The majority of Pakistani students studying medicine in Kyrgyzstan are from the Pakistan regions of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan where the number of aspiring students is high compared with the number of seats available in medical colleges.

Private medical education in Pakistan is costly. Kyrgyzstan is almost 50% cheaper, according to current fee structures. The situation is similar in India and Bangladesh.

Aditya Asthana, a final-year high school student in Jaipur, India, who was planning to move to Kyrgyzstan for the MBBS (medical degree), said: “Kyrgyzstan is a preferred destination for Indian students seeking a medical degree, mainly due to its cost-effective tuition fees. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan is emerging as a sought-after destination for Indian students but the recent reports of attacks on foreign students have led to a feeling of insecurity.”

He told University World News: “My parents have also expressed concern at the situation in that country. They have said that they would monitor the situation and then decide.”

During the Ukraine war, tens of thousands of Indian students studying there had to return to India. Later, many of them went to Central Asian countries including Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and obtained admission to medical colleges there with the permission of the government of India.

Wagdy Sawahel, in Cairo, and University World News Asia Editor Yojana Sharma contributed to this article.

This story was updated on 22 May 2024 to reflect the higher numbers evacuated to Pakistan and to include comments by the Pakistan foreign minister while in Bishkek.