New Delhi: Everyone wishes the best for Fr Tom Uzhunnalil on his 58th birthday but no one knows if the greetings would reach the missing Keralite priest.
From priests and nuns to relatives and well-wishers, everyone has been praying for the release of the Salesian priest ever since he was abducted from a Missionaries of Charity old-age home in Yemen five months ago.
The priest's ancestral house in Kottayam is locked up and his elder brother, who had returned to the home after hearing about the abduction, has gone back to Ranchi.
“There is still no clear news about the father. Even the last message we received from the government was that they are trying but it's difficult to evacuate people from strife-torn Yemen,” advocate Kunjaugusty, a second cousin of the priest, told Onmanorama.
Devout Keralite priest refused to bow to terror tactics
Fr Uzhunnalil was kidnapped from Aden on March 4, after an attack on the old-age home that left four nuns and several others dead. The Indian government has always maintained that the priest was safe. Reports in July suggested that three of his abductors had been nabbed and they had admitted to kidnapping the priest.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and people’s representatives, along with Fr Uzhunnalil’s relatives in Kottayam, have met prime minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj several times to press the government to try for his release from his captors. The responses have been encouraging so far. Many countries are trying to get information on the priest and to secure his release.
Fr Tom Uzhunnalil's 'Yemeni friend' seeks to 'expose lies' of Indian govt
The external affairs ministry has hinted that the priest could have been taken to some other country from Yemen. The sources, however, are clueless about his whereabouts or the conditions of the terrorists.