Is Bishkek safe for Indian and Pakistani students in 2026?

In May 2024 crowds attacked hostels where foreign students lived; dozens were injured and more than a thousand Pakistani students left within days. Since then the record on this page shows what the authorities and the universities changed and what has and has not happened again. The practical rules that experienced students follow are listed above: register with your embassy, keep your documents in order, do not film or join a street fight, stay inside and call 102 if a crowd gathers, move in groups at night, and learn enough Russian for the police, a pharmacy and a taxi.

Which is the safest country to study MBBS?

No regulator or statistics office ranks countries for student safety, and this site does not rank. What exists for Kyrgyzstan is on this page: the dated record of the 2024 events, the responses since, the emergency numbers and the embassy contacts. Compare it with the same kind of record for any other country you are considering, not with an agent's assurance.

What should I do in an emergency in Bishkek?

Call 102 for the police and 103 for an ambulance, then your embassy's emergency line (the numbers are in the Embassies section above), and tell your university's international office where you are. Keep your passport, student card and residence registration with you or in a known place; the migration checks after May 2024 targeted people whose registration had expired.

Student safety in Bishkek

In May 2024 crowds attacked hostels where foreign students lived in Bishkek. Dozens were injured and more than a thousand Pakistani students left the country within days. Families ask about it before anything else, so here is what the record shows, what has happened since, and what a student here can do about their own safety.

What happened in May 2024

Checked 13 Oct 2026

13 May 2024 A fight broke out at a student dormitory in Bishkek between a group of local men and Egyptian students, at about two in the morning. The Interior Ministry later said the local men followed foreign students to the dormitory and assaulted at least one of them.
17 May 2024 A video of the fight spread on social media. By the ministry's count, 500 to 700 people gathered in the evening demanding action. Police cordoned off the junction of Kurmanjan Datka Street and Chui Avenue.
Night of 17 to 18 May Groups moved on to dormitories and flats where foreign students lived, most of them from Pakistan and India, broke into rooms and beat people. Footage verified by RFE/RL showed crowds outside hostels and damaged rooms.
18 May 2024 The Health Ministry said 29 people were injured, of whom 15 were taken to hospital and three foreign students admitted. The Interior Ministry later put the number of injured at 33. The Kyrgyz government reported no deaths, and Pakistan's embassy said no Pakistani student had died; claims of deaths that circulated on social media were not confirmed by either government. The Embassy of India told its students to stay indoors and opened a round-the-clock helpline. Pakistan began flying students home the same night.
20 May 2024 The rector of one Bishkek university said about 1,200 of its Pakistani students had already left. President Japarov said everyone who attacked foreign students would be punished, that injured Pakistani students would be treated free of charge, and that police would in future break up such crowds from the first minutes.
22 May 2024 The Interior Ministry said six Kyrgyz citizens and four foreign nationals had been detained over the original fight, and that nine criminal investigations were open, into hooliganism, robbery, mass disorder and inciting ethnic hatred. The security service separately said five Egyptian citizens had been arrested.

Two things in the record matter for how you read it. The violence was not aimed at students of any one country; it followed a video of a fight involving Egyptians and fell on whoever lived in the hostels, which in Bishkek means mostly Pakistani and Indian medical students. And it came during a wider campaign against illegal migration: three days before the attacks, police had shut down delivery jobs done by more than 400 foreign students on scooters, and the security service was announcing arrests of undocumented foreign workers daily. Officials afterwards rejected hostility to foreign students in public while tightening immigration enforcement at the same time.

Sources: RFE/RL, 18 May 2024 · RFE/RL, 22 May 2024 · RFE/RL, 20 May 2024 · Al Jazeera, 20 May 2024 · Eurasianet, May 2024 · All India Radio, 18 May 2024 · VOA, May 2024

Since then

We found no report of a comparable attack on foreign students in Bishkek between May 2024 and our last check, in the English-language outlets we searched. That is not a guarantee, and local-language reporting may hold things we missed. The conditions that produced it, a large foreign student population living in a few known hostels and a public mood that turns on migration, are still present.

What the universities changed

Security at the main foreign-student dormitories was increased in the days after the attacks, and the government offered a security guarantee to residents of the dormitory that was worst hit. Whether a given hostel has a guard, controlled entry and working locks today is something to see for yourself. Our hostel block on each school page records what we observed on a visit, with the date, separately from what the university states.

What you can do

Register with your embassy on arrival, and keep its emergency number saved in your phone and written down somewhere else. Numbers are below.
Keep your passport, student card and residence registration in order. The migration raids after May 2024 targeted people with expired registration or unauthorised work. Do not take delivery or other jobs on a student visa; it is illegal and it was the stated reason for the crackdown.
Do not film or get involved in a street fight, and do not share videos of one. The May 2024 violence started with a video.
If a crowd gathers outside your building, stay inside, lock the door, call 102 and your embassy, and tell your university's international office where you are.
Walk in groups late at night, especially around hostels, and know the way back. Taxis through an app are the normal way home after dark.
Learn enough Russian to deal with police, a pharmacy and a taxi driver. It changes how people treat you.
Winter in Bishkek is cold, with nights that can fall below minus 15 degrees, and the air is heavily polluted on still winter days. Students with asthma should bring medication and a mask.

Emergency numbers in Kyrgyzstan

All emergencies: 112
Police: 102
Ambulance: 103
Fire: 101

Operators outside Bishkek and Osh usually speak Russian or Kyrgyz only. Sources: UK travel advice · Government of Canada

Embassies

India: Embassy of India, 100-A Mahatma Gandhi Street, Bishkek. Emergency helpline 0555 710 041 and 0555 005 538, round the clock. cons.bishkek@mea.gov.in. indembbishkek.gov.in
Pakistan: Embassy of Pakistan, Bishkek. Take the current numbers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page for the Bishkek mission; third-party directories list older ones.
Bangladesh: No embassy in Kyrgyzstan. The Embassy of Bangladesh in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is accredited to the Kyrgyz Republic; in May 2024 it published a 24-hour number for students in Kyrgyzstan. Confirm the current number with the embassy before you travel.

Numbers checked 13 Oct 2026. If one has changed, tell us at corrections@kyrgyzstanmedicalschools.com.

Common questions

Is Bishkek safe for Indian and Pakistani students in 2026?: In May 2024 crowds attacked hostels where foreign students lived; dozens were injured and more than a thousand Pakistani students left within days. Since then the record on this page shows what the authorities and the universities changed and what has and has not happened again. The practical rules that experienced students follow are listed above: register with your embassy, keep your documents in order, do not film or join a street fight, stay inside and call 102 if a crowd gathers, move in groups at night, and learn enough Russian for the police, a pharmacy and a taxi.
Which is the safest country to study MBBS?: No regulator or statistics office ranks countries for student safety, and this site does not rank. What exists for Kyrgyzstan is on this page: the dated record of the 2024 events, the responses since, the emergency numbers and the embassy contacts. Compare it with the same kind of record for any other country you are considering, not with an agent's assurance.
What should I do in an emergency in Bishkek?: Call 102 for the police and 103 for an ambulance, then your embassy's emergency line (the numbers are in the Embassies section above), and tell your university's international office where you are. Keep your passport, student card and residence registration with you or in a known place; the migration checks after May 2024 targeted people whose registration had expired.