The return home of the first batch of 180 students from Bishkek brings a certain sense of relief. Initial reports suggested that some students had been killed, and the knowledge that this was not true proved a relief. This should not disguise the fact that there had been a quite serious riot, and that Pakistani students had been roughed up by invading mobs. The violence was sparked off a week ago when the harassment of some Egyptian female students had created tension between foreign students and local residents. This led to violent mobs invading hostels where foreign students were. Bishkek is hardly the centre of the academic world, but it appears that South Asian students, especially Indians and Bangladeshis, apart from Pakistanis, have flocked to its medical universities. It appears that they are not only relatively cheap, but culturally and geographically compatible. However, while Russian occupation introduced medical teaching institutions in the Central Asian Republics, it did not remove the xenophobia there.
The government should realise that there are a number of other countries where Pakistani students have gone in large numbers. Apart from Kyrgyzstan, where the incidents took place, the students in the other Central Asian Republics must be surveyed to find out where the students are. Previously, students gravitated to the UK and the USA, where wide-scale xenophobic incidents did not occur. As a result, students were never obliged to seek consular help. However, that is changing. The missions abroad should not be on their toes for xenophobia, but should keep in mind the covid-19 epidemic, and what happened when students were turned out of hostels and quarantine restrictions were clamped in place.
It should be noted that students go abroad wherever theory can for a medical or engineering education. The rigorous testing and high merits are avoided by many students by getting admission abroad, in such countries as the CARs, China or Cuba. This does not include those who have gone abroad to pursue postgraduate studies abroad. However, they have reached a number where the government is held responsible by their relatives, very often irate parents. There must now be developed protocols on how to handle any crisis facing our students, and the missions abroad must be ready to put them into operation when things go wrong.
