A Calcuttan who had married an Afghan woman six years ago said he had lost contact with his wife who went to meet her family in Afghanistan in June and had planned to spend a few months there before returning to the city.
The last time the couple connected over a chat messenger was around 5.30pm (IST) on Monday. The husband instructed her to hide her marriage documents to keep her safe from the possible adversities she might encounter if word spread that she had married someone outside her religion and caste, Subrata Dutta told said on Tuesday evening.
However, before they could decide on how and where she could seek help, she had gone offline.
Her name, location and native language are being withheld for security reasons.
Dutta, a resident of Nagerbazar in north Kolkata, said he had left more than 100 messages in her inbox sharing contacts of his friends in Afghanistan and numbers that could help her reach the Indian embassy there.
“I am yet to get any response. The last time we spoke, she was insisting that she was fine. I could understand she was just trying to pacify me,” said Dutta.
Dutta said he had met his wife during one of his professional assignments to Afghanistan.
“As I used to be surrounded by armed troops as part of my job profile, I could not talk to her in person. We usually kept in touch through chats and emails. In 2015, we decided to get married. That was when she came down to Kolkata and we got married here,” Dutta said.
On June 1, Dutta’s wife left for Afghanistan to meet her family after more than five years.
“Her parents are no more. But her siblings are there. She was at her sister’s place when I spoke,” Dutta said.
He has been restless since reports of Taliban capturing one Afghan district after another started pouring in. He had advised her to come back but she felt her city would be safe.
“She came online on Monday evening and we spoke. All through she was trying to tell me that she was fine. I could make out that she was confused and scared. She was just trying to calm me down. My first idea was to reach out to the Indian embassy there. But I could sense, as her family was there, she did not sound comfortable with the idea,” Dutta said.
He said he offered to bring her entire family to Kolkata if she wanted.
“We were discussing the pros and cons, the ways we could reach out to people who can help her come out of the place. I was telling her to immediately hide all evidence of our marriage…. The last message she posted was ‘Look look we are safe’ before she suddenly went offline,” Dutta said.
The woman, who was an artist in Afghanistan, has been a homemaker in Kolkata as she did not have the work permit here.
Dutta has contacted multiple government agencies. “I am very hopeful she will be online soon…. My wife loves the sea. She saw the sea for the first time in her life here at Mandarmani. I would love to take her to the sea again once she is back. I am sure that will happen soon,” he said.
Huddled in building
A 42-year-old father of two from Kurseong, who left for Afghanistan less than a month ago to work in a security agency, is among the thousands of Indians stranded in the country.
He had last contacted his family through a WhatsApp call at 9pm on Monday using the Wi-Fi connection of a fellow Indian, his wife Sanju said on Tuesday evening.
“Yesterday, he made a brief call to inform me that he was in a building with many others close to the airport. The airport was closed,” Sanju said.