Afghan students promise to return to Orissa
By IANSSunday, January 23, 2011
BHUBANESWAR - Nearly 60 Afghan students who fled a Cuttack university after a clash with locals have pledged to return to Orissa only if they can stay here. The authorities have accepted the condition.
The students of Ravenshaw University at Cuttack, 26 km from here, quit Orissa after a clash with local students Jan 13 in the campus. Three local students and an Afghan were hurt in the incident.
Police have arrested the university’s student union president for the violence.
Orissa Higher Education and Tourism Minister D.P. Mishra recently met the students and Afghan embassy officials in New Delhi and urged the students to return to Orissa.
The students agreed but vowed not to live in Cuttack. They said they wanted to live in the state capital, a university official told IANS.
“We are making necessary arrangements for their stay in the state capital. Efforts are also on to provide them a bus for transportation from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack and back,” the official said.
The students are expected to arrive here in a day or two, he added.
