West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday urged the Centre to put pressure on the Afghanistan government for securing the release of an Indian woman aid worker, Judith D’Souza, abducted by unidentified gunmen in the Afghan capital.
“We have friendly relations with Afghanistan. The Central government should be more proactive to secure the release of Judith and should put pressure on the Afghan government. I have sent a letter to the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and National Security Adviser (Ajit Doval),” he said.
Ms. D’Souza, 40, working with the Aga Khan Foundation, an NGO, was kidnapped on Thursday night while she was returning home after dinner at a friend’s place in the Qal-e-Fatullah area of Kabul.
Efforts for safe return West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday that she was keeping in touch with Ms. Swaraj for Ms. D’Souza’s safe return.
Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien had already spoken to the family members of the abducted woman and also contacted the External Affairs Minister.
A Communist Party of India (Marxist) delegation, led by its general secretary Sitaram Yechury, met members of Ms. D’Souza’s family here on Sunday.
“Our mission in Kabul, the government and the organisation with whom she works are apparently in touch with the family. Everybody is making efforts. We met members of her family and expressed our solidarity,” said Mr. Yechury, who is also the member of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of External Affairs.
“We conveyed [to them] anything that they require in terms of putting pressure on the government and eliciting information from our mission, as a member of the consultative committee, I will be available to do that.”
Ms. D’Souza’s family members lauded the efforts of the government. “Both the Indian Embassy in Kabul and MEA are updating us twice a day and they updated us on the process of release that is taking place. Likewise, the organisation is also updating us,” said her brother Jerome D’Souza.
“Some of the efforts are shared with us, but some are not, due to obvious reasons. Huge efforts are being made by the government to bring back my sister,” he said.
