Efforts on to secure release of priest: Sushma

The government on Wednesday said that it would take some more time to secure the release of kidnapped Father Tom Uzhunnallil in Yemen.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha that the government was trying to secure the release of Father Tom Uzhunnallil, who is from Kerala and had been kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants from a home run by Missionaries of Charity at Aden in Yemen on March 4 this year. She, however, said that it would take some more time.

Sushma’s assurance in the Lok Sabha came a day after a video and some pictures of the priest in captivity of the kidnappers appeared on Facebook, triggering concerns over his well-being.