An Indian aid worker was on Monday abducted from Herat, days after the Indian consulate in the province was attacked by heavily-armed gunmen.
Catholic priest Alexis Prem Kumar from Kodaikanal, working with an educational charity, “was abducted by six Taliban militants in Zenda Jan district this afternoon,” said Mohammad Nader Fahimi, a police official in Herat province.
The External Affairs Ministry spokesman in New Delhi said, “Indian national working with an NGO in Herat province of Afghanistan has been kidnapped. Our Mission is pursuing the matter with local authorities.”
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh was in Herat last week to review the security situation following the attack on the consulate.
She held meetings in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.
Father Prem Kumar, Director of Dindigul unit of Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic organisation that helps refugees throughout the world, worked with tribal people in Kodaikanal and Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu.
While staying in Sacred Hearts College in Kodaikanal, the priest, a native of Ramanathapuram district, campaigned for a group of tribal people at Kumbaraiyur in Lower Kodaikanal, who were living without shelter and got them houses and ration cards.
Bastin, one of his close associates in Kodaikanal, expressed shock at the kidnapping and said the priest was instrumental in rehabilitating tribal people, especially children and women.
(With additional reporting by K. Raju in Kodaikanal)
