Italian hostages well cared for, say rebels

Agencies/Bhubaneshwar

Sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik gives the finishing touches to a sculpture appealing for the release of two Italian tourists, on a beach in Puri, in the eastern state of Orissa, yesterday

Maoist rebels holding two Italian men hostage in Orissa said in an audio message yesterday that their captives were well and being looked after. The pair were kidnapped last week while on an adventure holiday in the eastern state, one of several regions where an armed Maoist insurgency holds sway over large areas of the countryside. “The Italians are fine and being properly looked after, they are getting good food,” a local Maoist leader named only as Sunil said on the recorded message released to journalists. Sunil is known to command the Maoists in Kandhamal district, where Paolo Bosusco, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61, were abducted on Wednesday in the first case of foreigners being kidnapped by the rebels. The Maoists have issued a series of demands for the Italians’ release, including a ban on tourists visiting tribal areas, the end of the government’s anti-rebel operations and the release of jailed Maoist leaders.The Maoists also said that they had declared a unilateral ceasefire, and set a deadline for the government to meet their demands which expired yesterday. The rebels warned they could not vouch for the safety of the men after the deadline passed. They said they had named three intermediaries to negotiate the hostages’ release. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the security forces had already ceased counter-insurgency operations and were ready to talk with the rebels. The rebels are not known to have kidnapped foreigners before, but tensions over what the Maoists view as voyeuristic tourism in the area appear to have boiled over. Only a few weeks ago, a scandal erupted over what the guerrillas regard as “human safaris” and the practice of taking tourists to see naked tribes people on the Andaman Islands and in Orissa. Authorities in Orissa vowed to stop the practice, but the Maoists said not enough had been done. “Adivasis are not commodities of tourism and adivasis areas are not vacation spots for tourists,” Sunil said, using the local word for tribes.      There have been far fewer clashes with Maoists in recent years due to increased activity by security forces, but the government still considers the rebels to be India’s main threat to domestic security. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday made his first comments on the kidnappings as state officials and Italian diplomats, who have flown to Orissa, worked to try to secure their release. “The abduction of two foreign nationals recently is a reminder of the challenge to our internal security by Naxal (Maoist) and leftwing extremism,” said Singh, who has often stressed the nationwide threat opposed by the rebels. Bosusco has been living in Orissa for a decade and runs an adventure tourism and trekking company, police said, while Colangelo is a doctor in Rome. Patnaik said the authorities had received the rebels’ demands and that the state government was willing to open talks. “I once again most earnestly urge the Maoists to release the two Italian nationals immediately and unharmed and also stop violence and other unlawful activities,” Patnaik said in a statement. Two Indians accompanying the Italians were released early on Sunday, police said. The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, have previously kidnapped local officials and villagers, freeing some after negotiations but killing others. The abductions came amid strained ties between New Delhi and Rome over last month’s arrest of two Italian soldiers on charges of shooting two Indian fishermen from their cargo ship after mistaking them for pirates off Kerala’s coast.