Maoists free Italian man; legislator still in captivity

Agencies/Bhubaneswar

Maoist rebels yesterday released an Italian tour guide who was kidnapped nearly a month ago while trekking in the forests of the eastern state of Orissa. In the first case of the rebels targeting foreigners, Paolo Bosusco was kidnapped on March 14 along with another Italian man, Claudio Colangelo, who was freed 11 days later. “I love Orissa. But there’s a hell of a difference between being a tourist and a hostage,” a tired and thin-looking Bosusco said when he arrived at a guesthouse in the state capital Bhubaneswar after his ordeal. Early yesterday morning, negotiators brought Bosusco out of the thick forests where he had been held by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of India’s tribal people and landless farmers. Maoist groups have in the past kidnapped local officials and villagers, releasing most after negotiations but killing others. Italian diplomats were on duty in Orissa during negotiations, and the government in Rome welcomed Bosusco’s release. “It is an end to a risky and very complicated affair in which we were constantly involved on all levels,” Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said in a statement. Terzi said he was “profoundly grateful” to Italian and Indian officials for helping free Bosusco, adding the outcome “fills us with satisfaction.” “I’m fine, I’m finally free,” Bosusco told Italian news programme TG1 shortly after being released. “Don’t worry, you know I’m strong,” he said in a message to his relatives. Asked by his interviewer why he was so thin, he said: “This is because of my 28 days of ‘paid holiday’. Unfortunately the food was what it was. “The Maoists tried to give me what they could but unfortunately given the conditions in the jungle I could not eat very much. I also had malaria twice.” Bosusco also called his father, Azelio, in Italy. The father later told reporters: “I’m very emotional and now much calmer.” Bosusco, who runs an adventure holiday company based in Orissa, said he had been visiting and living in India for 22 years, but now expected that he would have to leave the country. “I am happy (to be released), but I am sorry that I must now leave India,” he said, speaking in English and also in the local Oriya language. “My work is finished but my love for the Orissa people will never finish.” Bosusco and Colangelo, a doctor from Rome, were abducted while hiking in the remote district of Kandhamal, while an Orissa state lawmaker remains in captivity after being taken hostage by other Maoists on March 24. Jhina Hikaka, an assembly member of the ruling Biju Janata Dal party, was abducted by another rebel group at around the same time as the Italians. The rebels have refused to release Hikaka until 30 jailed rebels from that group are released. The rebels, who have waged a decades-long insurgency against India’s state and central governments, have demanded a ban on tourists visiting tribal areas and an end to the government’s anti-rebel operations, as well as the release of prisoners. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik agreed to free 27 prisoners during talks with the Maoists, who had threatened “extreme steps” unless their demands were met. The rebels earlier this week rejected the list of prisoners to be released, and named seven other men they wanted freed immediately. Bosusco was released to a Maoist-appointed mediator, Dandapani Mohanty, at a rebel jungle hideout on Wednesday night, Times Now television reported. Mohanty and Bosusco reached Orissa’s capital, Bhubaneshwar, yesterday. Bosusco’s company, Orissa Adventurous Trekking, says on its website that it offers holidays to “a different India from the Taj Mahal, far, very far from the crowds of tourists.” The Maoist guerrillas, described by the government as the country’s most serious internal security threat, control large swathes of central and eastern India and often raise funds through extortion and protection rackets. The insurgency feeds off land disputes, police brutality and corruption, and is strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, many of which are rich in natural resources. In their latest major attack, they killed 11 policemen in a landmine blast in Maharashtra state last month.