M.S. Vijaykumar and Lakshmikanth from Karnataka, who were released from captivity in Libya, will return to India by Tuesday morning. However, sources said negotiations for the release of T. Gopikrishna and Ch. Balaram from Hyderabad, being held by an Islamic State-affiliated militia, had “run into trouble.”
In the past few days, several militias have been fighting for control of the Libyan coastal town of Sirte, where forces loyal to former leader Muammar Qadhafi, who have allied with foreign IS terrorists, are fighting groups ranged against their dead leader that control the capital Tripoli.
“Our efforts [to negotiate the release of the two men from Hyderabad] are on,” a senior official told The Hindu , adding, “The clashes don’t help [the situation].”
Mr. Vijaykumar and Mr. Lakshmikanth, who have been staying at the Indian Embassy in Tripoli since Saturday, drove into Tunisia, crossing over at Djerba on Sunday evening, and will take a flight back home from Tunis on Monday afternoon.
Describing their experience in custody, the academics said they had been held by the Islamist militia, along with persons of other nationalities, in Sirte. Their release was negotiated by officials of Sirte University where they worked.
“What helped their release was the fact that they were teachers, and the gunmen said they respected the profession,” a source told The Hindu. “Some of the captors were between 18 and 20 years old and had even studied at Sirte University. That helped too.”
‘Had they been together all may have been freed’
A difference of 30 km became the difference between freedom and captivity for Prof. Gopikrishna and Prof. Balaram from Hyderabad, now in the clutches of an Islamic State-affiliated militia in the Libyan city of Sirte.
According to diplomatic sources, the four academics split up on June 29 as they tried to leave Sirte, and the car carrying the academics from Hyderabad fell behind.
The other difference was that they worked at a different campus in Jufra unlike the other two from Sirte, and the militia decided to separate them.
“Had they all been together, perhaps all four would have been released at the same time,” said an official.
