Father of rescued Jesuit priest thanks Narendra Modi

CHENNAI/MADURAI: The father of Jesuit priest Fr Alexis Prem Kumar on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for securing the release of his son from the custody of Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
“The Prime Minister spoke to me to inform me about my son’s release from captivity. We have been waiting for this day. I must thank the Prime Minister for his personal efforts. I also thank the state government,” Fr Alexis’s father A S M Antony (77), a retired school teacher, told TOI.
Antony and two other family members were going to Delhi to receive Fr Alexis.
READ ALSO: India secures release of Jesuit priest Fr Alexis Prem Kumar from captivity in Afghanistan
Albert Manoharan, brother of Fr Alexis, said that none of them could believe it. “First we could not believe that we were receiving a phone call from the Prime Minister of India and second that our brother who was abducted has been released,’’ he said.
Manoharan said they would organize a thanksgiving meeting “for this miracle.”
“I wanted to go to New Delhi. But I had to stay back to make the arrangements,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the news of the release of the priest spread like wildfire in his native Devakottai in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu.
Neighbours thronged the house to congratulate the family. “Earlier, they were known as the family of a Taliban prisoner, but now they are known as a family which received a call from the Prime Minister. It was a very laudable gesture by the Prime Minister,’’ said a neighbour.
Fr Alexis, who was working with the International Catholic NGO Jesuit Refugee Service in Afghanistan, was abducted by the Taliban on June 2 last.