Briton ‘traumatised’ awaiting news of disabled mother knocked unconscious fleeing Kabul
A British citizen has said she is "traumatised" awaiting news of her medically vulnerable mother, who was knocked unconscious while trying to flee Afghanistan.
Fereba Hafizi, a fashion photographer from Coventry, said her 79-year-old mother was left unconscious, after being pushed over in a melee of people on her way to catch a flight with UK authorities on Wednesday morning.
Layloma Hafizi, a dual British and Afghan citizen with a number of health conditions, flew to Afghanistan a month ago to attend a family funeral with her son, Asad, but then had difficulty booking a flight home due to Afghanistan being on England’s red list as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.According to her daughter, Mrs Hafizi had to be carried on her nephew’s back and dropped off at a pickup point at a Kabul hotel.
She was escorted inside on a wheelchair, but her daughter has heard nothing about her whereabouts since.
'I just feel really guilty that I’m here in safety and my mum who is disabled, she’s sick, she’s on her own going through this. She doesn’t deserve this,' Fereba Hafizi told ITV News on Tuesday
Ms Hafizi, 29, said she and her family are now extremely concerned for their mother's wellbeing and safety and are calling on the government to get her back to Britain.
In an interview with ITV News on Tuesday, a tearful Ms Hafizi said: "My mum who's disabled, she's sick, she's on her own, going through this. She doesn't deserve this."
Ms Hafizi's brother Asad was due to fly back with his mother to the UK, but has been stuck in India after flying to the country several weeks ago to deal with a separate family issue, meaning Mrs Hafizi has to fly back to the UK on her own.
“[My cousin] was assisting my mother… without his support and pushing people aside from her path it would not have been possible for her to even make it to the gate of the hotel,” Ms Hafizi said.
“He put her on his back and dragged himself through the last line of crowds.
“The consulate staff and the guards assisted them inside, but they immediately discharged my cousin as he did not have a foreign passport.
“I have lost all contact with her and I have absolutely no idea if she has recovered, or if the aircraft has departed or not.”
'(My mother is) a very strong and tough woman who has gone through a lot of things, so she’s normally very on top of it but for the first time, she’s very frightened and scared', Fereba Hafizi told ITV News on Tuesday
Ms Hafizi also fears her mother may have been taken to the airport without a vital bag of medication, or separated from it whilst there.
She added her mother “requires a wheelchair system when she travels, she’s diabetic, she’s got high cholesterol and arthritis”, has had two strokes in the past and is currently awaiting surgery.
Ms Hafizi continued: “I’m not able to get into any form of contact with my mother about her wellbeing. I’m worried and anxious about what is happening to her.
“All these uncertainties are draining me and making me feel traumatised.
“With all these medical conditions, she’s actually not fit to be travelling on her own.”
'Even if the flight is £10,000 we are willing to pay the prices to get her out,' Ms Hafizi told ITV News on Tuesday that her family are desperate to get her mother out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan
She added that the cousin who carried her mother is in the final stages of getting a visa to travel to the UK, but the closure of the embassy in Kabul is hampering his route out of the country.
“His father has passed away. He is currently the sole breadwinner of his family,” she added.
“He has been working for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Unfortunately, with the current crises in Afghanistan, these individuals whom have been assisting and giving refuge to isolated women are on the Taliban’s target list.”