Among hundreds of prisoners released by the Taliban from an Afghan jail after their takeover of Kabul was Nimisha Fathima from Kerala, who had surrendered to Afghan forces after joining the terror group ISIS. Her mother Bindu Sampath has requested the government to help bring her and her little daughter back.
Nimisha Fathima and her four-year-old daughter had been in jail in Kabul ever since she and 400 others surrendered to Afghan forces in 2019. Her husband was killed in a US airstrike on an ISIS base.
Afghanistan had offered to deport her and other women from Kerala.
Her whereabouts after the Taliban threw open the gates of the jail on Sunday are unknown.
Bindu Sampath said she is concerned that her granddaughter, who turns five today, might fall into the hands of the Taliban.
"When I heard news that they have been released, I was so happy. But by evening I heard the sad news that they were not released but were handed over to terrorists by the Indian government," Ms Sampath claimed as she spoke to NDTV on Wednesday.
"If she has done anything wrong to my country, let her go through Indian law. That is what I have been saying for over four years. If she is deported from Afghanistan, I can take care of my granddaughter. Otherwise, she will become a prey to these terrorist. I don't know why the Indian government is not allowing her back," she said.
Fathima (known as Nimisha before she converted) and her husband Isha (known as Bexin) (File)
Bindu Sampath said her daughter, who went missing in 2017, was "brainwashed". She says she has appealed to Kerala Minister Muraleedharan and others. Her petition in court seeking her daughter's return is coming up on Tuesday.
"My daughter was brainwashed by terrorists and a doctor, who was with her in a coaching centre in Thiruvananthapuram... 21 people from Kerala had gone missing in 2017 and the mastermind was Abdul Rasheed and four others..." Ms Sampath said.
She also alleged that her daughter's homecoming had been blocked by a disagreement among intelligence officers.
"My granddaughter will be five years tomorrow. I haven't seen her yet. When my daughter was travelling, she was seven months pregnant. I complained to the authorities about the man who took her and 21 others, but no action has been taken. Only I am the victim, harassed and bullied by the media, by everyone," Ms Sampath told NDTV.
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