NEW DELHI: Even after nearly all Indian medical students returned from Iran following the outbreak of war, one 22-year-old youth from Kashmir chose to stay back, saying he could not leave the country “when it is in distress”. Now living alone in a nine-storey hostel in Ahvaz after the last remaining Indian students left, Asif Gulzar said he was safe and had made the decision with his family’s support.Gulzar, a third-semester MBBS student at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Khuzestan province, told TOI , “I am here by choice and I am safe. I realised I cannot leave Iran when it is under attack.”Around 2,000 Indian medical students returned to India in phases after the war started on Feb 28. Gulzar life around him remained stable and essential supplies were available despite the conflict. He also said internet connectivity in Iran was very poor and he was using a paid VPN borrowed from an Iranian friend so he could remain in touch with his family. “When innocent people are suffering, I cannot choose the easy option and leave only for my own comfort,” Asif Gulzar said. He added staying silent in the face of such suffering would have remained with him for life.Fond of reading revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh, Gulzar said he had drawn from the idea that silence in the face of oppression amounted to complicity. With classes suspended for now, he said he had been spending time reading the works of thinkers, philosophers and revolutionaries, while also writing poetry to capture the atmosphere around him. Nasir Khuehami, national convenor of the Jammu & Kashmir Students Association, which helped facilitate the return of Indian students, including around 1,200 from Kashmir, told TOI that almost all of them had returned. “If someone has chosen not to return, there is little we can do in such a case. We did our best to ensure the return of every student with the help of Indian authorities,” Khuehami said.