The release of >two Indians abducted in the Libyan city of Sirte by Friday evening raised hopes that they were not being held by the dreaded Islamic State but another militia group.
In a tweet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj wrote: “I am happy we have been able to secure the release of Lakshmikant and Vijay Kumar. Trying for other two.”
The professors from Hyderabad are being held by an unidentified group outside Sirte. A senior official, who spoke to the men said they “will be returning to India soon,” but added it would be best not to publish details until they had word of the release of the other two men.
Officials told The Hindu that the abduction posed several problems for the government. To begin with, it was unclear which group held the men. Sirte is the hometown of Libya’s slain former leader Muammar Gaddafi, and his followers, who are allied to the IS, run much of the city. There are also “splinter groups”, security officials said, that may have taken the men hostage.
Secondly, the group that now controls the Libyan capital of Tripoli, ‘Fajr Libya’, or ‘Libyan Dawn, is not recognised internationally, and the Indian government could not make official contact with them. India maintains only a small mission in Tripoli with Charge d’Affaires Mohammad Rashid Khan, and a few security personnel staffing it, and monitors the situation through the Embassy in Tunisia.
With news of the feared abduction by the IS, the government worked through “various sources,” and the MEA team coordinated by Secretary (East) Anil Wadhwa, who had worked on securing the > release of Kerala nurses from Iraq last year. Sources said they were not in direct negotiations with the captors but that officials of the University of Sirte, along with the “skeletal staff” in Tripoli, were on the job.
The incident brings into focus the larger problem for the government, of Indian nationals who continue to live in areas of major conflict despite clear advisories.
