KASARGOD: Families of the missing persons believed to be with the Islamic State (IS) said messages from them had dried up.
“We know nothing about them now or how they are faring there,” said the mother of Dr Ijaz Rahman, 34, who is among the 21 persons missing from Kerala and believed to be in an IS-controlled province in Afghanistan.
The last message the mother received was on September 11, from Asfaq Majeed, her sister’s son, who is also believed to be in the IS with his wife. The message said Dr Rahman’s wife Rifaila gave birth to a girl on September 6, said the mother. “Since then we have got no message and don’t know how they are doing,” she said.
The mother said most of the communication was done by Majeed. Among the 21 who left home, three women were pregnant. In August, Fathima, formerly known as Nimisha Kumar, wife of Eeza alias Bexin Vincent gave birth to a child. The couple is from Palakkad. All of them are believed to be together somewhere in Afghanistan, going by the phone code.
Ajmala, 22, wife of Shiyaz, 28, who is the brother of Dr Rahman, was also pregnant with their first child when she left home.
Dr Rahman’s mother said the police had returned the mobile phones they took away to glean information. “Apart from phones taken from Asfaq’s house, they have returned all our phones,” she said. Seventeen persons from in and around Padna and Trikaripur reportedly went missing late May and among them 12 of them are related or close friends.