JOIN USAs the imbroglio over the release of two persons abducted in Libya by Islamic State terrorists continued for the third day, family members of T Gopikrishna and Balram Krishna were keeping their fingers crossed and prayed for their safe return.
The chancellor of the Sirte University Mousa Mohammed Mousa, who negotiated the release of his teachers since Wednesday, told a local Urdu daily that “Leave the rest to Allah; I have done everything I can to get the other two teachers back to safety of the University campus”.
Srikakulam MP K Rammohan Naidu also met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking his good office for the safe return of Gopikrishna who hailed from Tekkali of Srikakulam district. Gopikrishna and Balram were reportedly in abductor’s custody while two others were released. Gopikrishna’s parents Narayana Rao and Saraswati on Saturday morning urged the Andhra Pradesh government to speed up the process for his early release.
Minister for NRIs’ welfare Palle Raghunatha Reddy conveyed Gopikrishna’s parents that Andhra Pradesh was taking all possible steps for his release. Meanwhile, there is silence from the side of Balram Krishna, of Hyderabad (native of Karimnagar) about his whereabouts after they got an SMS from Sirte that he was safe on Friday night.
Balram has been teaching English at the same university since 2011. Balram and Sridevi, a lecturer at a private college in Hyderabad, have two sons Vijaybhaskar (19), a B Tech student at IIT Kharagpur and Madhusudhan (12).
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao urged the Centre to pursue all possible avenues to bring the two people back.