New Delhi: The Indian government has secured the release of Fr Alexis Prem Kumar Antonysamy, the head of a Jesuit organisation, who had been kidnapped by the Taliban while being involved in charity work in Afghanistan eight months ago. He is likely to reach India this evening.
Fr Kumar, who was the country head of educational charity Jesuit Refugee Service, had been abducted on June 2, 2014, from the Sahadat village of Herat province.
He was reportedly visiting a school for Afghan refugee children from Iran and Pakistan which was outside Herat.
Fr Kumar, whose family is based in Tamil Nadu, had been working in Afghanistan for around four years before his abduction.
“We are happy. We thank the Central government and the district administration,” said his brother Albert Manoharan.
Fr Kumar’s abduction was the first since November 2005, when 36-year-old R Maniyappan working with the Border Road Organisation was taken hostage and beheaded. It came on the heels of an attack on the Indian consulate in Herat in May by four heavily armed gunmen, who were repelled by security forces.
Last year in June, 39 construction workers were abducted in Iraq’s Mosul. They are yet to be released.