KUALA LUMPUR: The 189 members of a Malaysian tabligh group stranded in India are in a "critical" situation, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said.
He said they have been categorised as such because they were unable to return to Malaysia due to the travel restrictions imposed by India to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Hishammuddin said most of the tabligh members have been charged with flouting their social visa pass, with some still undergoing court process and detained.
There are 157 tabligh members in New Delhi, 23 in Chennai and nine in Mumbai, he said.
"I was told that 125 of the tabligh members in New Delhi have gone through their respective legal processes and were freed on July 9 and 10.
"The government is currently working to bring them home using a special aircraft this Friday.
"We expect to bring back 136 of the tabligh members, including nine in Kolkata and two in Saharanpur.
"The remaining 52 members are still going through the court processes while one person in Amravathi has been freed from all charges," he told a press conference at the Parliament here today.
Hishammuddin said currently, there are 317 Malaysians classified as "stranded" in 37 countries.
He said his ministry has also identified 10,159 Malaysians overseas with the potential of being stranded and of this number, 9,270 are students.
"A bulk of the 9,270 are students currently in their final year of studies. This includes our students in the United States who were (recently threatened) with deportation," he said.
Earlier today, the White House issued a statement that it has dropped plans to deport all international students whose courses had moved fully online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was following the legal suits filed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University against the US government.