NEW WORLD ISSUES

Twenty-year-old Sumayya Solangi, who was among the more than 260 Pakistanis trapped in the violence-hit parts of Kyrgyzstan and later flown in to Islamabad by two special C-130 flights, returned to her Gulistan-i-Jauhar home after arrival here by train on Wednesday.

A large number of her relatives and media persons were at the Cantt Railways Station, where emotional scenes were witnessed as the first-year medical student hugged and kissed her mother, father and siblings one by one with tears of joy rolling down their faces after she got off the train from Rawalpindi.

“We saw death from such close quarters that most of us still wonder how we survived and got back home,” she told Dawn. “I had been in Osh for the last one year at the Medical Institute of the Osh State University with my two cousins who are final-year students. We were living in a rented apartment, which was attacked last week.”

Sumayya recalled “the horrible life experiences” that she underwent just last week, when the violence spread from the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to Osh in the south and a mob attacked their apartment and tried to break into it.

“The marauders were in their dozens, carrying arms, sticks and iron rods,” she said. “But fortunately they couldn’t break open the door despite several attempts and turned to softer targets, sparing us. Then we contacted our Pakistani friends, who picked us up in the morning and we somehow reached another place, where some 13 students were already holed up.”

By that time, she said, some of her companions had come into contact with the Pakistani media using their contacts back in the country. Sumayya said that in the evening officials of the Pakistan embassy in Kyrgyzstan traced them, and arranged their safe return to the country, bringing an end to their 48-hour ordeal.

“But we were worried about our lives and those of our friends. There were also rumours about the deaths of our several local and foreign colleagues and we kept grieving for them the whole night. In the morning, the Kyrgyz forces came to escort us to a local government building, where foreigners were staying,” she said.

The Pakistani students spent another day in that facility, which was being guarded by Kyrgyz army personnel, Sumayya said, adding that the following morning they were driven to the Osh airport to be finally picked up by the two C-130s.

“We feel blessed by Allah that our daughter has returned safely,” said Habib-ur-Rahman Solangi, the father of Sumayya. “I was very much in doubt about the safe return of Pakistani students trapped in Kyrgyzstan, but I never shared these fears with my family. I knew if I showed any of my concerns, the whole family would lose hope.”

A government schoolteacher, Mr Solangi said the way the world had been facing violent episodes in one country after another, he would not like any of his children to go abroad for education.

“I am the father of four daughters and a son. Sumayya is the youngest of them. The way the government showed its support and did a remarkable job in bringing these children back, I hope it would also think about their future and adjust them in local medical institutions to allow them to pursue their studies,” he added.