Taliban release Jesuit priest in Afghanistan: How Modi, Doval made it happen

Editor’s note: This copy has been update to reflect that only one priest was rescued and corrects the name of Father Alexis Premkumar Antonysamy. Indian agencies have scripted a major success in securing the release of one abducted Christian priests from the captivity of the Taliban in Helmand, Afghanistan. The priest Father Alexis Premkumar Antonysamy has now safely landed in India. Top official sources told Firstpost that the rescue was the result of a major operation by Indian intelligence and security agencies posted in that region. [caption id=“attachment_2114915” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image from IBNlive[/caption] The “special operation”, which saw agencies going the whole hog to secure the Jesuit priest came at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. After Father Alexis was “secured” and taken to Kandhar and later to Kabul, Modi spoke to him, inquiring about his condition and wishing him well. Modi later spoke to his family members in Chennai. Agencies had been steadily working on the operation since July last year but had only been able to secure the release of the priest now. A delegation comprising members of the Jesuit Church and members of Father Alexis family had earlier met Modi and Doval in July last year, seeking their personal intervention to secure the cleric’s freedom. Though it could be purely coincidental, the timing of their release is politically significant – it comes less than a week after Modi’s widely publicised address at a gathering of Christian clerics where he spoke at length on the need to protect the values of inclusiveness. The speech was seen as an attempt by the Prime Minister to combat the perception that his government was beholden to hard line Hindutava groups, or was favourably tilted towards them. At the time of his abduction, Prem Kumar was working with the Jesuit Refugee Service, an international NGO, and was engaged in the educational field in Afghanistan. He was its Afghanistan Director and had been in the country for over three years. He had accompanied teachers on a visit to a JRS-supported school for returnee refugees in Sohadat village, 25-km from the city of Herat. He was kidnapped from the school as he was about to return to Herat, the JRS had said then. Before moving to Afghanistan, Kumar had worked for the JRS, serving Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu. Four days after the abduction, Afghan authorities had announced that three Taliban members had been arrested in connection with the case. Father Alexis is one of the most revered priests in the Jesuit church, and holds one of the top positions in Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), a worldwide NGO sponsored and supported by the Vatican, Rome. “It will also give a message to those concerned that India can’t any longer be taken as a soft state and was now doing everything possible to ensure safety of its citizens”, an official said. Securing release of 24 nurses of captivity of IS was a major step forward in this direction. He was kidnapped eight months ago soon after a terror attack at the Indian consulate in Herat was foiled by ITBP and Afgan forces. If intelligence and security agencies wrote a brave bold chapter on its off-shore adventurism, the Modi government has unfolded a diplomatic charter of peace and diplomacy ahead of the budget session of Parliament