KABUL (SW): The family members and friends of the 31 abducted passengers have been anxiously waiting for their return for a over a month now with a no sign of hope in sight.
To keep the issue alive and raise voice for the kidnapped men, civil society activists have been attending a camp at the Kabul’s Zar Nigar Park, the site of former King Abdul Rehman Khan’s mausoleum.
The grieving family members of the 31 Afghan citizens who were kidnapped over a month ago are still waiting in despair for their loved ones to return without knowing much who took them and to where.
The abducted men were on their way to the central city of Ghazni and the capital Kabul from neighbouring Iran when armed men stopped their bus in the southern Zabul province. The incident took place on a Monday night: February 23, 2015.
A group of armed men who were covering their faces allowed the women and children to proceed to their destination while taking the men away from them. Most of the victims belong to the ethnic Hazara community who follow Shia Islam and often visit Iran for spiritual trips. Ever since then, the community has been at a loss as to where their men have been taken, and by whom.
Khuda Bakhs is one of the abducted men. His brother Ali Muhammad told SW that their mother cries for her missing son every day. “She might lose her eyesight if Khuda Bakhs did not return soon”, he feared.
He noted that all abducted men belonged to poor families who are facing daunting task to survive as most of the men were sole bread earners for their families.
“President (Muhammad Ashraf Ghani) promised that the chief of NDS (National Directorate of Security) would come and meet us regularly but we have not seen him since”, he said.
Every evening, the protesters from Kabul’s Zar Nigar Park leave for home with a heavy heart and a will to come back for another day of hope.
ENDS
