Indian Jesuit, kidnapped in Herat located, 1 arrested

The Afghanistan forces have arrested a man in connection with the abduction of 47-year-old Indian national, Fr. Alexis Prem Kumar Antonysamy. Sources in the Afghanistan Police, meanwhile, said Father Kumar has been located in the Gilan district of Herat, the capital of the western province of the same name.

According to officials, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was monitoring the situation and India is said to be in constant touch with the Afghan government and local authorities that have launched a search operation for 47-year-old Alexis Prem Kumar, who was abducted Monday afternoon, according to the official sources. Indian Ambassador Amar Sinha is in touch with the Afghan government in Kabul while the consul general is in touch with the local authorities in Herat, said official sources.

The deputy police chief of Herat, Mohammad Nadir Fahimi, that "six gunmen" had abducted Premkumar and may have taken him to Gulran district. He said authorities are working with "district elders" to try to mediate his release. "We are trying to get him to safety," Herat's Provincial Governor Fazelullah Wahidi was quoted as saying.

India’s external affairs ministry has denied that the abducted Indian was in any way connected to the Indian government, which is carrying out developmental and reconstruction work in Afghanistan.

Alexis Prem Kumar was the Country Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Afghanistan. A native of Tamil Nadu, Kumar has been working with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) for more than a decade. After an experience of serving Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu, he has been serving in the education programme in Afghanistan for the last three years. 

The JRS is an international voluntary organization, which assists and cares for more than 800,000 refugees, including Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, Sri Lankan refugees in India, Afghan refugees and refugees in regions all over the globe. The services it provides include medical care, education, vocational training, psychological support, and community development.

JRS has been involved in Education in the Herat Province, and Kumar had accompanied teachers on a visit to a JRS-supported school for the returnee refugees in Sohadat village, 25 km from the city of Herat. He was kidnapped from the school as he was about to return to Herat, the JRS has said.

The abduction comes nearly 10 days after the attack on the Indian consulate in Herat by four heavily-armed gunmen carrying rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The attackers were subsequently killed by the security forces who repelled the attack on May 23. On May 29, the Indian mission in Herat had issued an advisory asking its nationals to exercise extreme caution while venturing out.

Afghanistan is experiencing a rise in Taliban attacks as foreign troops plan to withdraw from the war-torn country by the end of the year.

India’s Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh was in Herat during the weekend to review the security situation following the attack on the consulate. She held meetings in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.

 (Source: NDTV, Times of  India, AsiaNews, UCANews)