Fr Tom went against official advisory

New Delhi: Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who has been in captivity since March, was denied permission by Indian authorities to travel to Yemen last year, keeping in view the deteriorating security situation in that country.

Late in 2015, Father Tom approached Indian officials in Djibouti, where the Indian mission had moved after hostilities broke out in Yemen. He asked Indian authorities for permission to travel to Yemen. The security scenario being what it was, Indian officials refused to give him an all-clear for the visit.

However, a few weeks later, it emerged that the Catholic priest had gone ahead with his visit regardless. He was kidnapped from a Missionaries of Charity retirement home in March.

On Tuesday, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted, “I have seen the video of Father Tom. He is an Indian citizen and the life of every Indian is most precious for us. We got Father Alex Prem Kumar and Judith D’Souza released from Afghanistan. We have spared no effort and we will spare no effort to secure Father Uzhunnalil’s release from captivity.”

According to sources familiar with the developments, India believes the priest has not been taken out of Yemen and is possibly still being held there. The only available destinations would be Saudi Arabia or Oman, but security officials say it’s unlikely he is in these countries.

India has asked for assistance from Saudi Arabia, a country with which India now has a ramped up security relationship. But this has not resulted in any solution, which has led Indians to now believe that Father Tom may be held by the Houthi rebels. It has never been established exactly who has kidnapped the priest. But the fact that he is still alive and reading out messages might mean his captors are holding out for a ransom deal.

Father Tom’s predicament is not unique. Across West Asia where multiple wars are raging, Indians continue to live and work, often going against the advisories issued by the government.

Earlier this year, India made plans to evacuate 600 Indian nationals from South Sudan, which collapsed into chaos. However, when the huge C-130 aircraft landed in capital Juba, there were only about 250 Indians ready to journey back home from the troubled country. The government had run into similar problems while trying to persuade nationals to leave war-torn Libya, or even Iraq and Syria. Many Indians prefer to stay back in these countries. Until, of course, they run into severe trouble.

In his video message, Father Tom was as critical of the Catholic Church as the Indian government.

“Several months have gone by, my captors have made many contacts with the government of India to get me released. Honourable President and Prime Minister, I am very sad that nothing has been done seriously in my regard. Reports have been coming that everything is being done to get me released quickly but in reality, nothing seems to have happened,” he said in the video.

Then he made an appeal to the Christian community. “My dear fellow Christian people, I as a priest worked in Yemen and have been kidnapped and nothing has been done by Pope Francis or by bishop of Abu Dhabi to get me released, in spite of contacts being made by my captors. I am sad that this is the situation. If I was a European priest, I would have been taken more seriously by authorities and people would have got me released,” he said.


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