MBBS Student’s Family Forced to Bear Entire Repatriation Burden, JKSA Seeks Reimbursement
Association Urges EAM’s Intervention as Mortal Remains of Sabha Rasool to Reach Delhi Tonight
Srinagar, Aug 22 (JKNS): The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) on Friday said that the mortal remains of Kashmiri MBBS student, Late Sabha Rasool, who died in Iran, will reach Delhi tonight on Mahan Air Flight No. W5 071, scheduled to depart at 5:00 PM (IST).
National Convenor Nasir Khuehami told news agency JKNS that her body will be transported to Kashmir by tomorrow morning and laid to rest at her native place in Safakadal, Srinagar.
JKSA urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Advisor to CM Nasir Sogami to ensure ambulance transportation and necessary arrangements at Srinagar Airport for dignified passage of the mortal remains.
The Association expressed concern that the family was left without institutional support. “They bore the entire burden themselves, even paying nearly ten times the normal airfare for repatriation. Only initial formalities were assisted by the Indian Embassy in Iran; the rest was managed by the grieving family and community,” it said.
Calling the situation “heartbreaking,” Khuehami stressed that families facing such tragedies deserve compassion and state support, not unbearable financial and logistical hurdles.
JKSA urged External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar to personally intervene and reimburse the extraordinary expenses incurred, and called for a formal MEA mechanism to support Indian families during such tragedies.
The Association recalled that in a similar case last year, when Kashmiri student Arsalan Kanjwal from Sopore died in Iran, the MEA facilitated repatriation and bore the entire cost. “The same should have been ensured for Sabha’s family as well,” it said. (JKNS)
