I booked tickets and accomodation in Kyrgyzstan for travel in July (both non refundable) and later that day riots broke out in Bishkek against Pakistanis and Indians. I am an Indian male 😠. What do you guys think? Is it safe to travel over there?
Booked tickets and accomodation in Kyrgyzstan , later that day got the news that riots broke out.
AsiaYeah...I tried but the mods are blocking every post on the riots....
Just don’t mention the riots, but ask their opinions about safety for someone of your ethnicity to travel there
Make sure you get travel insurance
Places like that dont take travel insurance lol.
We are in Kyrgyzstan right now, on our way from Son Kul lake to Bishkek. I can update you later on how the situation looks like there.
EDIT: I just read the news about it and it said that the original street fight was between Egyptian guys and locals and that 3 Egyptian men were arrested. Also the protests were against migrant workers not against tourists. It says absolutely nothing about Indians at all. I think you are massively overreacting. Kyrgyz people are one of the warmest nations I’ve ever seen.
I really hope so. I was in Uzbekistan a few months back and they were really really nice people. In the Indian news channels it was mentioned that anyone who looked like a Pakistani/Indian was attacked. Some 27 people injured. Indian foreign ministry has put out an advise against travelling there and also to the Indians staying there to stay indoors.
The riot started because of one particular fight and a video of that fight that went viral, so it’s not a sign of overall negative attitude of Kyrgyz people towards foreigners.
It’s definitely not Egyptians, a lot of south Asians have been murdered and injured in riots, probably cause they couldn’t differentiate between them.
a lot of south Asians have been murdered and injured in riots
Can you provide links to support this?
I’m not gonna do that much work, literally look up any source, either on Reddit itself or on some news sites, even Wikipedia mentions Indians and Pakistanis and X has videos/pics of dead students.
I’m not gonna do that much work.
So then don’t spread misinformation and panic. All official sources, including the officials from India and Pakistan, say that nobody was murdered and 29 people were injured, and only 3 of them are foreigners. Twitter is notoriously known for spreading misinformation, it’s actually ridiculous to use it as a source of information.
Muh misinformation. Just look it up zoomie.
It's either a lot of work for you or really easy for someone else, but it can't be both.
Just wait and check the news regularly. It's still some time till July, so things are probably gonna calm down until then!
I think if your travel is still 2 months away (in July) you should be okay. I've seen the reports as well and the ire of the locals seems to be directed towards pakistani students/migrants and I have not come across any reports of Indians getting attacked (not to say that it hasn't happened). I doubt this will be any kind of long standing violence and seems like a temporary flare up so hopefully by July you will be fine to travel. Just keep an eye on the news for the next month but I think you'll be okay as a tourist.
From what I just read on Aljazeera it claims after a fight between some international students and locals around may 13th it triggered an angry mob of people to storm some student hostels housing mainly Pakistani, Indian, Egyptian and Bangladeshi nationals.
Best thing you can do is monitor the news etc as July is still a while away in terms of this situation.
Yeah don't worry
By law you have a 24-hour period in which to cancel even non-refundable tickets (at least for domestic flights in the US, I'm less certain about international flights & non-US-based carriers).
I'm guessing you're outside that window by now for this trip, but it's still useful to know in case something happens in the future. Good luck, and stay safe!
Thank you dear American for this information that is of little use to me at this point of time and of little use to anyone outside the USA.
Hey Best-Blacksmith-9557, It sounds like you have questions about travel safety. Check out our Wiki post on safety for solo travellers for advice on staying safe out there.
I would ask this on the Kyrgyzstan subreddit and not here. It’s a pretty uncommon destination so few people here will have been there and those who have will only have the perspective of what it was like during the brief time they went. Someone on the other sub who’s actually living there will be more up to date and can tell you what it’s like now.