'May God bless all, even my abductors': Father Tom Uzhunnalil meets Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi

Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who spent 18 months in the captivity of Islamic State, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, shortly after his return to India. In his meeting with Modi, Father Tom was clean-shaven and emaciated. The first picture of Father Tom, soon after his release, showed him with long hair and a flowing white beard. After meeting the prime minister, Father Tom also met external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Shortly after the meeting with Swaraj, he was quoted by NDTV as saying, “May God bless all, even my abductors, for all the goodness in them.”

#BREAKING -- Father Tom, rescued from ISIS captivity, meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/77h3MzGF6I

— News18 (@CNNnews18) September 28, 2017

Delhi: Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was rescued from ISIS captivity meets External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj pic.twitter.com/tkM0y6MB7V

— ANI (@ANI) September 28, 2017

After he was freed from captivity of the Islamic State, Father Tom had thanked Modi and the Union government for their efforts in his rescue. Uzhunnalil, abducted by terrorists in Aden in March last year, was rescued from captivity from an undisclosed location in Yemen. The Sultanate of Oman helped to find and rescue Uzhannalil who is an employee of the Vatican. After his release, the priest was flown from Yemen to Muscat. He later left Oman on a chartered flight for the Vatican. With inputs from IANS