Pakistani man a “God-send” for Indian students who were stranded in Ukraine

The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has some rays of light shining through, with people coming together to help each other out of tough times. Among the many who have taken it upon themselves to reach out to those who need help is Moazam Khan.

A Pakistani by birth, Moazam has been described as a “God-send” for team SOS, an NGO that was working on getting Indian students safely out of Ukraine. Nitesh Singh, founder of Team SOS India, knew that they needed a lot of buses and cars to ensure that the Indian students reach the borders of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia or Romania, and tried his best to find tour operators for buses with no luck.

He then met Moazam Khan. “He was very helpful and many times did not charge even a single dollar for the Indian students who had no money to pay,” Nitesh told Rediff.com.

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At last count, Moazam said he had arranged safe passage for 2,500 Indian students stuck in different places in Ukraine. Moazam shared with Rediff.com, “When I saved the first batch of Indian students, I had no idea the crisis was so huge. I soon found that my phone number had gone viral on many Indian WhatsApp groups and started getting non-stop phone calls, even in the middle of the night, for rescue operations.”

Moazam, who hails from the Tarbela cantonment area near Islamabad, moved to Ukraine 11 years ago when his elder brother married a Ukrainian citizen. He initially studied civil engineering, but gave it up to start a bus tour operation in Ukraine. He says that he’s had Indian friends from before the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“In these 11 years I have made many friends at Ternopil National Medical University. Many of them have graduated and are back in India. They are still in touch with me and we are good friends.” Moazam credits his immediate connection with Indians to the shared language. “People in Ukraine speak Ukrainian or Russian, so foreigners find communication difficult. I speak Urdu and most Indian students speak Hindi, and the similar languages make it easy for us to connect.”

A lot of Ukrainian bus drivers capitalised on the growing demand for buses, hiking up ticket prices to $250, but Moazam did not. “I charged them only $20 to $25. I knew these Indian students had no money. In many cases, I didn’t take money because they had run out of cash before coming from Kyiv to Ternopil.

“We, as humans, want the human touch. I always hugged my Indian students who left Ukraine. Hugging each other works well in such situations. Please do that to other human beings who are in distress,” he says.

Though he has evacuated countless people from Ukraine, Moazam does not want to leave because half his family is stuck in Sumy. “My brother’s family is from Sumy. They are stuck in that city now, they cannot come. I can arrange for transport for them, but the Russians have laid landmines on the roads. We have no idea which will blast off and where they have placed them,” he shares.

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