The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Official going to Sudan to speed up Keralite’s release

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Official going to Sudan to speed up Keralite’s release

Special Correspondent

‘Abhilash attempted escape, but was caught by captors and beaten up’

KOCHI: A senior official from the Foreign Office in New Delhi will be leaving for Khartoum, Sudan, shortly in a bid to secure the release of P.K. Abhilash of Gothuruthu, near here, who has been held captive by rebels in Sudan since May 13.

In an e-mail on Friday, Indian Ambassador to Sudan Deepak Vohra told Abhilash’s father, P.L. Kunjachan, that the official would arrive in Sudan on Sunday.

He would go to the area where Abhilash and others were abducted. The Indian authorities would raise the issue of release at “very high levels” of Sudan government. “We shall do everything possible to bring your son back,” the ambassador told Mr. Kunjachan. Mr. Kunjachan told The Hindu that Abhilash had last week tried to escape from captivity.

But he was caught back by the captors and was severely tortured.

This was conveyed by Abhilash himself to a Malayali friend of his living in Qatar. Abhilash had told the friend that he would not be released unless the captors were paid the ransom they had demanded.

Mr. Kunjachan said his son seemed to fear for his life. Mr. Kunjachan had this morning sent an e-mail to the ambassador conveying to him what he had learnt from Abhilash’s friend.

However, the ambassador, in his reply, told him not to go by the rumours.

“We would urge you not to believe gossip and rumours; we have been assured that there is no danger to your son’s life,” Mr. Vohra said in the message.

“A senior officer from the Ministry of External Affairs of India is visiting Sudan from July 20. He will also go to the area where your son was abducted. We shall again raise this issue at very high levels.”

In reply to Mr. Kunchachan’s query about the ransom negotiations, the ambassador wrote: “I cannot comment on any ransom negotiations. It is not our policy to pay ransoms.”

Abhilash, 27, a welder working for a firm owned by an Indian in Sudan, was kidnapped along with three other Indian workers and a Sudanese driver while returning from work 66 days ago by southern Sudanese rebels.

The kidnappers had reportedly demanded a huge sum as ransom.

A fortnight into the kidnap, the three other Indian hostages jumped captivity and returned home.

Following the escape, the rebels moved Abhilash and the Sudanese driver to further down to the south of Sudan where the Sudan government virtually has no sway.

Facilitated by his captors, Abhilash had called his parents a couple of weeks ago on the satellite phone.

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