Moazzam Khan is Pakistani hero who expelled two and a half thousand Indian students from Ukraine
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several students have been stranded in Ukraine, making it difficult for them to return home.
That is why when Nitish Singh, the founder of Team SOS India in Ukraine, started trying to evacuate the Indian students trapped there, he did not understand how he would get them out of there.
All they knew was that they would need several buses and other vehicles to get them to the borders of Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
He tried to get the services of tour operators to get the buses but could not find any, but then he met Moazzam Khan, a Pakistani citizen living in Ukraine.
Speaking to Rediff.com , Nitish said, “Like Moazzam Khan was sent by God for us, who helped so much that he did not even receive a dollar from Indian students stranded in Ukraine many times whose I didn’t have any money.
According to Moazzam Khan, they arranged safe passage for two and a half thousand Indian students stranded in different parts of Ukraine.
“When I rescued the first group of Indians, I did not know that the crisis would be so severe,” Khan told Rediff.com, speaking from the Ukrainian city of Tranpole. But I soon found out that my mobile number had gone viral in various WhatsApp groups of Indian students and then at midnight I received innumerable calls from different phone numbers asking me to get out of there and then Since then, I have evacuated 2,500 Indian students from various parts of Ukraine to safer places.
Moazzam Khan came to Ukraine 11 years ago when his elder brother married a Ukrainian woman.
Moazzam hails from Tarbela Cantonment area of ??Islamabad. After studying civil engineering in Ukraine, instead of taking a job in civil engineering, he started a business as a Ukrainian main bus tour operator.
Moazzam Khan added that even before the war between Ukraine and Russia, he had many Indian friends and in those 11 years, he befriended many students of Trincomalee National Medical University, many of whom returned to India after completing their education. Gone are the days but he is still in touch with them and they are his best friends.
According to Moazzam Khan, the Indian students were feeling very good with him because it was because they were of the same language and because of that they would blend in quickly.
Moazzam Khan added: “It is the most difficult thing for any foreigner in Ukraine to communicate because the people here speak only Ukrainian or some Russian, while English is rarely spoken. But I speak Urdu and Indian students speak Hindi. This is what connects us.
He said that Urdu and Hindi languages ??are similar so we live well together.
Hungary and Slovakia are 5 hours away from Tranpole, while it takes 3 hours to reach Romania and 2.5 hours to reach Poland.
Moazzam Khan added that he did not remember how many times he took Indian students out of Ukraine and took them in his buses to the borders of different countries.
He said that he did not have time to count because his only concern was to get the Indian students out of the area. Pulled out
Moazzam Khan said his first priority was to protect lives and fortunately the Russian army did not bomb the areas from which he was traveling.
Due to the post-war crisis, several Ukrainian bus drivers had increased bus fares to ???? 250 per person for trips to the Ukrainian border, but Moazzam Khan did not.
Moazzam Khan said: “I received only ?? 20 to ?? 25 per person because I knew that these students did not have money, and I did not receive money from some students because I knew that the Ukrainian Coming to Trincomalee from the capital Kyiv, their money must have been spent.
“The biggest asset for me is that the parents of these students pray and thank me on WhatsApp and phone calls,” he said.
Describing an Indian student who sought help from Kyiv in the middle of the night, Khan said that the student was trapped and had no idea how to reach the border. He was suffering from hypothermia.
“I called the Red Cross and got some medicine,” he said. Four days later, when his condition worsened, he reached Tranpole and I escorted him safely to the border, from where he was taken to India by the Indian embassy.
Asked to help Indian students despite being a Pakistani, he said, “You may have recently seen a video of an Indian women’s cricket team player playing with the daughter of a Pakistani player. That is love and humanity.” And enmity is just a politics but people of both countries love each other.
“I always hug Indian students who are leaving Ukraine and in such a situation hugging each other is a big deal,” he added.
Although Moazzam has expelled 2,500 Indian students from Ukraine, he does not want to leave the country himself as half his family is stranded in the Sami region of Ukraine, where about 700 Indian students are still stranded.
He added that his brother’s family belonged to Sami and they were trapped in the city but could not return.
“I can arrange transport to get them out but Russian troops have laid landmines on these routes and we have no idea where they are located,” Khan said.
“In such a situation, it would be very dangerous to get out of Sami. When there is a ceasefire between the Russian and Ukrainian armies, then we can get them out,” he said.
