Srinagar, March 6 -- Nearly 1,100 to 1,500 J&K medical students remain stranded in Iran as the war rages, their lives and careers at stake. Despite an MEA advisory to leave, many students stayed for the critical March 5 national exams (Uloompaya), which were only postponed at the eleventh hour following US-Israeli strikes. Currently, of the estimated 2,000 J&K-origin students in Iran, about half have returned, while the rest face disrupted communication and closed airspace. Panicked families in Srinagar are now demanding their safe evacuation and lateral adjustment into J&K's government medical colleges. The adjustment remains a legal hurdle and also J&K doesn't have enough seats to accommodate these medical students, however, migration is possible in other countries of the region. "We couldn't take our children out because of crucial examinations. My son's examination was ending on March 4 and he had a return ticket for March 5 before that war broke out. It's not an ordinary war as no place is safe in Iran now," said a woman from Srinagar. She said parents are thankful to MEA for shifting their children to Qom. "We want safe passage for all the students." Izaam Hussain had spent only one month in Iran after joining MBBS at Tehran University when he returned in January ending after the first advisory by the Indian government when internal protests had rocked Iran. Hussain, a resident of Srinagar, is dejected as the war had further complicated the situation in Iran and his dream of becoming a doctor has gotten further delayed. "I am feeling very sad. It was my first year and only a month into the degree this thing has happened. I wanted to continue as soon as possible but the war has ruined everything," he said. "We had been told that practicals and exams would be held after March when Navroz ended. Now everything is ambiguous. We want the war to end and the situation should come back to normal," he said. Prof MA Shah's two children- a daughter and a son- were studying in Tehran in their third and second years of MBBS, respectively. They returned for the second time owing to holidays on account of Navroz at their university. "It is obviously a cause of concern for all of us but we are hopeful that the war will end and the situation will come back to normal," Shah said. Unlike the local precedent where chief minister Omar Abdullah accommodated 50 students from the Katra medical college into supernumerary seats recently, foreign graduates fall under National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines. Any move to absorb them would require a central policy shift, as current laws mandate degree completion abroad before local eligibility. The proprietor of an educational consultancy in central Kashmir said that a large number of students from Kashmir are still in Iran as they could not leave owing to examinations. "In Iran, an exam happens after 2.5 years (Uloompaya) which the students can't miss. So they couldn't leave. Only 20% of students whose vacations had started had left," he said, adding that it is important first to save the lives of the students. "India needs to take things seriously and evacuate the students as soon as possible," he said. He added that the situation is not conducive now for the students to study in Iran and he believes that the delay would be at least six months. "Iran is not safe anymore for those seeking education there. Either the students should migrate to other countries or NMC should issue some guidelines in collaboration with our foreign and education ministry. The future of students should not suffer," he said, adding that they are not even sure whether the universities are intact or not. "And it is also not clear how much time the country will take to recover even when the war will end. It will take more than three months, even up to six months," he said. He also gave the example of the Ukraine war. "When the Ukraine war started, the students there migrated to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Similarly, India should issue some guidelines which can save the time and degrees of the students," he said. Naseer Khuehami, convener, Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, said that this is the third time in the past 10 months that Kashmiri and other Indian students studying in Iran have found themselves stranded amid a crisis. "The first instance occurred last year during the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel; the second during the internal unrest and protests in Iran around December-January; and now once again students are caught in the middle of a rapidly escalating conflict involving multiple factors, including the US and other Gulf countries," he said, adding that the repeated disruptions are causing severe anxiety among students and their families. "Their academic future is at stake, as continuous instability could delay their degrees and, if the conflict prolongs, may jeopardise their professional careers. The priority at the moment is their safety and safe evacuation, but safeguarding their academic future must also remain a national concern," he said....