KOTTAYAM: The video clip showing Fr Tom Uzhannalil, who was abducted by ISIS gunmen in Yemen ten months ago, begging for life has left the members of Uzhunnalil family at Ramapuram in Kottayam a worried lot.
With the government failing to secure his release, the family members are planning to approach the Catholic church authorities.
Sajan Thomas Uzhunnalil, a relative of the abducted priest, told Express that the family members would soon meet Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alenchery seeking his urgent intervention to save Fr Tom.
“Though 10 months have passed after the abduction of the priest, there is no progress in the efforts to rescue him. While the govt authorities assured all efforts to secure his release, nothing has been done so far in this regard,” he rued.
The family members led by Sajan’s brother Noyal Thomas Uzhunnalil, who is working as Deputy Inspector General at the Union Forest Ministry in Delhi, had met Union Minister for External Affairs Sushama Swaraj with the help of BJP leader Alphons Kannanthanam in October this year.
Though the minister said that efforts are on to rescue Fr Tom, there has been little progress. “The officials said that the government could not make direct contact with the abductors as there is no Indian Embassy in Yemen.
But, we feel that government is not serious in its efforts to save him,” said Sajan. Ironically, Fr Tom was abducted while he was planning to return to his Salesian province in Bangalore, from where he was sent to a mission in Yemen, which was founded by his uncle Fr. Mathew Uzhunnalil. Fr Tom, who was sent to Aden in Yemen in 2010 to take over the reins of the mission from Fr Mathew, had returned to Kerala in 2014 following the demise of his mother.
The unrest in Yemen forced Fr Tom to delay his travel plans and as the situation improved, he returned to Aden in December 2015. He was abducted by the IS fighters three months after his arrival in Aden.
Salesians have been providing ecclesiastical services to the few local Catholics and migrant workers in Yemen since 1987. In Sana’a, the capital, the Salesians also offer pastoral services to Catholic diplomats.
Salesians are the only priests in Yemen and have been a great support for the Missionaries of Charity, who take care of the sick, elderly and the underprivileged children in the cities of Sana’a, Aden, Al Hudaydah and Taiz.
As the situation worsened and India closed its Embassy in Yemen in 2014, the Salesian province in Bangalore allowed mission members to decide whether to leave the country or not. Fr Tom decided to stay back in Yemen to help the Missionaries of Charity, which eventually put his life in peril.
BJP national executive member P K Krishnadas, who had accompanied the Union Minister, said the party’s state leadership had urged the Centre to initiate steps to rescue Fr Tom.