J&K man held in Saudi over 2 weeks ago, but his family yet to hear from him

DEHRADUN: More than a fortnight after Amjad Ali Bhat, a 29-year-old man from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla, was detained by authorities in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam, his family back in India is yet to receive any official information from either the Saudi or Indian authorities about his whereabouts and the charges levelled against him. Bhat used to work as a ‘nurse specialist’ since last June.Bhat’s cousin Mohammed Abass, who has been desperately contacting the authorities and his company’s representatives in Saudi, told TOI on Monday that he has disappeared since March 25.“After writing to the Embassy of India in Riyadh and Bhat’s company more than a week ago, his father and I met J&K CM Omar Abdullah on Thursday. During the meeting which lasted for about 30 minutes, we requested him to help his safe return to India. The CM assured us of taking up the matter with the ministry of external affairs,” Abass said.The cousin further said that his company employers were also “clueless”. “They said that they were unaware under what charges he was taken away. They’ll only come to know about him, if the Saudi authorities contact them to seek any cooperation in the probe,” Abass added. “We are extremely worried now.”According to his family, Bhat was allegedly held for uploading a social media post on Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on March 3.