Sept 17, 2016: Two Indian teachers who were abducted and held captive since July 2015 in Libya, have been freed and rescued; Sushma Swaraj, minister of the External Affairs, tweeted on Thursday, September 15.
Both the men along with their two other colleagues were on their way to return India on July 2015. When they were en route to the airport in Tripoli on a car, all were detained in a check post on a distance of about 50 kilometres from the town of Sirte. The teachers were then abducted by a group owing to its allegiance to the Islamic State, reported The Hindu.
Men who were Abducted-
Two of the teachers; Mulbagil Vijay Kumar, 56, of Bengaluru and Laxmikant Ramakrishna, 37, of Raichur were freed after two days of the abduction. The other two; C Balaramkishan of Telangana and T Gopalakrishna of Andhra Pradesh were forcibly kept in captivity.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Wikimedia
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Most of the people belonging from Sirte town got occupied by the Islamic State. The university, in which the four men were working, was located in a zone that fell under a strong hold of IS. The Government officials believe that the teachers probably stayed back in order to attain their dues even while the university was not operational for a certain amount of time.
The Rescue Mission
According to The Hindu reports, the rescue operation was initiated and carried out by the anti-IS force from Misrata that is a city close to the capital of Libya. However, it will still take some time for the final chapter of the rescue mission to finish. As the security situation in that area is as strict as before.
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Ministry of the External Affairs has reportedly stated that efforts were continually given in order to rescue the abducted Indians. Vikas Swarup, a spokesperson of the ministry has said that the ministry has been in frequent follow-ups regarding this case in Libya; not only in Libya the issue was discussed in the neighbouring countries as well including Egypt and the discussion was raised at the time president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was in India.
As per reports, some 2000 Indians continue to stay back and remain employed in the conflict-hit country of Libya in spite of frequent advisories by the MEA urging them to leave for their own safety.
– prepared by Antara Kumar of NewsGram. Twitter: @ElaanaC