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Coronavirus: Uncertainty Looms Large Over Ladakh Pilgrims Stuck in Iran

Coronavirus: Uncertainty Looms Large Over Ladakh Pilgrims Stuck in Iran

Srinagar: Three pilgrims from Ladakh have died in Iran, which is battling the coronavirus pandemic, in the past three weeks, The Wire has learnt.

A travel agent from Ladakh, Gulzar Balaghi, who is also in Iran, said the first death took place in the first week of March. “He was an elderly man, around 60 years of age. He died in a hospital in Qom city. We were told that he died of the coronavirus,” said Balaghi.

The external affairs ministry on March 20 confirmed one death of an Indian national in Iran. But the ministry did not identify the deceased or his place of origin.

Balaghi said two more pilgrims from Ladakh have died between March 12 and 20. “One of them died three days ago in a hospital at Mashhad city. Both of them were elderly men in the late 50s,” he said.

According to him, one of them had tested positive for coronavirus while the second one had a heart problem. “But we were not told anything about the cause of their death,” he said.

Balaghi is part of a five-member committee set up by the pilgrims, which is in touch with the Indian embassy and Iranian government for the evacuation of stranded pilgrims from Ladakh. He said they have already spoken to the Indian embassy about the deaths.

Also read: Anxious Kashmiri Students, Pilgrims Evacuated From Iran

Feroz Khan, chief executive councillor of Kargil confirmed the deaths. “All three of them were from Kargil,” said Khan. “But it is not clear yet whether they died of coronavirus.” He said one of the three pilgrims had died in Mashhad while two others died in Qom.

A senior official from Ladakh said there were reports that two of the three persons had died of COVID-19. “We are inquiring about the third person,” he said, requesting not to be named.

Balaghi shared a five-minute video with The Wire in which he talks about these deaths and makes a fervent appeal to Union government to evacuate the stranded pilgrims.

Another travel agent, who is heading a group of 17 members in Qom accused the government of India of “dumping and leaving” its nationals in Iran to die.

He said around 780 pilgrims from Ladakh were still stranded in Iran, a majority of them in Qom city. A group of more than 850 people from Ladakh had gone to Iran for an annual pilgrimage earlier this year.

Last week, the Union government had announced it was working on a plan to evacuate all the stranded pilgrims from Iran. In his two statements made to parliament, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had said that the initial focus of India’s evacuation effort in Iran was on picking up pilgrims after the government closed all flights with the country from February 26.

The stranded pilgrims said, only 60 to 70 of them were airlifted “secretly” during night hours earlier this week.

Also read: Coronavirus: In First Death Outside Country, Indian Dies in Iran

“Since then, nobody has cared to visit us or inquired about our condition,” said the second travel agent. ” If the government can airlift Indian nationals from Wuhan (in China), why have we been left,” he said.

Iran is one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus. It has recorded 1,685 deaths while the total number of infected cases has gone up to 21,638, Iranian state TV quoted health ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour as having said.

Earlier this week, the Wire quoted a list send by the pilgrims, which showed that at least 258 of the stranded pilgrims from Ladakh have tested positive for the coronavirus in Iran.

“The number of positive cases is now more than 260 as per the list shared by the Indian embassy with us,” said Balaghi.

He said an “updated list” of the COVID-19 cases was shared by an official of Indian embassy with them on a WhatsApp group created for communication between the two sides.

While the external affairs ministry has not confirmed the list, it had on March 17 said that it could only confirm “some positive cases.”

“If Indians test positive elsewhere, we expect the country they are in to take care of them like we are doing with the foreign nationals (here),” additional secretary of the ministry, Dammu Ravi had said.

A pilgrim from Kargil said the Indian government has “totally abandoned” them. “We haven’t even been provided a single mask from embassy officials,” said the pilgrim, who is stranded in the country, along with his wife and daughter.

He said Iran government has arranged accommodations for 220 pilgrims and had been providing lunch to all stranded pilgrims in Qom. Most of the pilgrims were putting up in hotels, both in Qom and Tehran city.

“But they are now running short of money and have been given an ultimatum to vacate the hotels due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country,” said the pilgrim.

“There is also fear among pilgrims that they might contract the diseases as most of us including those who have tested positive (for COVID-19) are putting up together,” said the pilgrim. He said he was staying with his family in the facility provided by the Iran government.

Balaghi said the Indian embassy officials have now stopped responding to their calls. “No one from the embassy has visited us for the past one week,” he said. “We are now planning to sit in a protest outside the (Indian) embassy to demand our evacuation,” said Balaghi.

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