Abducted lecturers’ kin await breakthrough

Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 1

With anxiety writ large on their faces, the families of the two Telugu lecturers, abducted by ISIS militants in Libya, are still awaiting the news about their safety and well-being.

Though the news of the release of two other teachers from Karnataka has given some hope in the case, the families of Gopikrishna and Balaram Kishan are still in shock as there has been no word about their condition.

Telangana Chief Secretary Rajeev Sharma today wrote to the External Affairs Ministry to step up efforts to secure the release of the two hostages. In the letter, written on behalf of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Sharma said the Centre should ensure the safe return of the two, both of whom are teachers at the University of Sirte, at the earliest through negotiations with the Libyan government.

The kidnappers had, on Friday, released two other teachers from Karnataka. Both the Telugu persons are residents of Hyderabad. While Gopikrishna hails from the north coastal Andhra town of Srikakulam, Balaram Kishan hails from Karimnagar district in Telangana.

The CM is in constant touch with senior officials in New Delhi and is following up the developments, sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said.

Balaram Kishan’s wife Sridevi had received an SMS on Friday from one of those released that all were safe, but the two Telugu families are anxious as there has been no further information. “I just want my husband to call me up and say he is safe. The government should exert all pressure to secure their release,” Sridevi said.