PMO's call raises hopes of Antaryami's family

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">DEHLAN, Una: A call from the PMO''s office has, at least for now, lifted the gloom in the house of Antaryami, one of the hostages in Iraq.<br /><br />With a smile on his face that had remained amiss for the last 10 days, Antaryami''s father Ram Murti told <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">TNN</span> that Dr Amrohi, deputy secretary in the PMO, had called him twice on Saturday reassuring him that his boy would be brought back safely."Talks with the kidnappers are heading in the right direction," Dr Amrohi told Ram Murti. He had called up at 3 in the afternoon and 6.30 pm.<br /><br />But Murti doesn''t want to breathe easy now. "I will only relax once the boys return. The government has woken up and the voice of the people has made the difference." He questioned why the government did not send its emissaries before. It could have prevented all this.<br /><br />The Antaryami household had a more reassuring look on Saturday.<br /><br />People from all walks of life kept pouring in as the deadline given by terrorists to execute one of the hostages drew closer.<br /><br />Antaryami''s mother, who is in Zonal Hospital in the intensive care unit, asked <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">TNN</span> to appeal from her side to the terrorists to release her son.<br /><br />The wife of Tilak Raj, the other hostage, said she wants her husband to come back. She said that they have sold all their land to finance Tilak''s trip to Kuwait. With no money and land, her only hope of survival is through her husband.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />She said the deputy commissioner had visited her in the hospital and reassured her that her husband would be back.<br /><br />Earlier, the protests on the Nangal highway at Dehlan remained as vociferous as they were 40 hours before.<br /><br />Villagers said they would not remove the traffic jam till Antaryami returns.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Violence at Dehlan</span><br /><br />Violence broke out at Dehlan when some policemen tried to divert some buses stuck in the traffic jam through some other route.<br /><br />The villagers protested to this and in an attempt to stop one tempo from escaping, a youth Surinder Pal Bhatia was injured when the tempo driver allegedly struck him with a sharp-edged weapon. Surinder was rushed to the hospital and has serious injuries on his right forearm. The crowd broke some windowpanes of the CTU bus that tried to escape.<br /><br />Confusion over deadline Confusion prevailed in the village after the militants'' deadline was over. None were sure about the current situation with a worried Antaryami''s father Ram Murti asking mediapersons for information.</div> </div>