New Delhi: The ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan have left more than 100 people dead while over 80,000 refugees, mainly Uzbeks, have fled from the country.
The Centre says all Indians in Kyrgyzstan are safe and the Ministry of External Affairs is monitoring developments in the riot-hit country. The Indian mission is in touch with the Kyrgyzstan government.
"Situation in Osh is difficult. As of now, all 80 students and an Indian professor and businessman are safe. We are telling them to stay indoors and trying to boost their morale. The mission is in regular touch with our citizens and with local authorities and the Krgyz foreign office. Our Ambassador has met with the foreign ministry officials this morning," the MEA said on Monday.
Sources said that 80 Indian students would be taken from Osh city airport in a chartered aircraft to Bishkek. In Jalalabad 15 students are still stranded.
The Indian students trapped in Osh and Jalalabad have pleaded the authorities to bring them back home saying their lives were in danger.
"Anyone can die at any moment," Zaheer Khan, an Indian student in Osh, told a news channel.
Said student Amrit Das: "The building next to my home is burning. We are stuck inside our home."
The interim government in Kyrgyzstan has declared a state of emergency in and around the city of Osh. Kyrgyz and Uzbek elders started talks on Sunday night to try to find ways to stop the violence following riots between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups in Osh and Jalalabad regions.
Authorities say a brawl in a casino may be flared into ethnic clashes.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon also expressed alarm over the increasing ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan and asked people to prevent further losses of life.
"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about reports of renewed violence and several deaths in Osh, Kyrgyzstan," Ban's spokesperson said in a statement.
"He calls for calm to be restored and urges all involved to show the utmost restraint to prevent further losses of life," the statement said.
The Kyrgyz interim government has already authorised the military, policemen and vigilantes to apply combat weapons in emergency situations to control the spreading violence.
Concerns are growing over the escalation of ethnic violence and observers warn of the threat of a civil war in the strategic country which hosts military bases of both US and Russia.
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