Image Source: TRIBUNE

Former Finance Minister Syed Altaf Bukhari on Wednesday appealed to the Union government to evacuate the residents of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly students and businessmen, stranded in Iran, which is emerging as the second focal point after China for the spread of coronavirus.

“As we know that Iran has confirmed three more deaths and 34 new infections on Tuesday, taking the country’s overall death toll to 15 and infection tally to 95, I am in touch with the Union Ministry of External Affairs and have submitted details of over 240 J&K students who are stuck in Shiraz, Tehran, and other cities of Iran,” Bukhari said in a statement.

He said, “I have information from the stranded students who study in Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Shiraz University of Medical Science (SUMS) in Iran that over 300 students from J&K are studying in various provinces of the country. All of them are currently safe but they apprehend infection if they are not evacuated from Iran soon,” Bukhari said, while appealing to the Union government to act on the details and take measures for safe evacuation of these students at an earliest.