With no trace of the Catholic priest from Tamil Nadu, Alexis Prem Kumar, even four days after his abduction by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “personal intervention to secure his safe and early release.”
Underscoring the urgency for Mr. Modi to take up the matter at the highest level in Afghanistan, the Chief Minister, in a letter to him, said, “Fr. Alexis Prem Kumar was on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, working with refugee children when he was kidnapped.”
The Afghan Interior Ministry said security forces arrested three Taliban operatives on Thursday in connection with the abduction. They are being interrogated, spokesperson Sediq Seddiqi said, adding that the Herat police were doing their best to ensure his release.
