There is one person who might be extremely happy with the news of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil’s release from the militants after spending more than a year in captivity in Yemen. Fr. Alexis Premkumar Anthony Samy, a Jesuit priest from Tamil Nadu was abducted in a similar fashion two years ago from Sohadat village in the Herat province at Afghanistan.
The priest was abducted on June 2, 2014 and released eight months later on February 22, 2015 even after prime minister Narendra Modi’s intervention.
Fr. Alexis who was the director of the Jesuit Refugee Relief Center and a native of Shivaganga Devakotta Varianvayal was abducted by a group of six militants at gun point at the Afghan province. Fr. Alexis’ abductors were assumed to be Taliban militants.
He had been serving in Afghanistan for three years as the director of the Jesuit Refugee Service which worked in the educational sector of the war-torn country. Fr. Alexis and his group of volunteers were visiting a school at Sohadat village when the militants kidnapped him. His abduction took place soon after the Indian Consulate at Herat was attacked by the terrorists.