Making continuous efforts to locate Father Tom, will bring him home: Sushma Swaraj

After the purported video of kidnapped Father Tom being tortured by the ISIS cropped up on social media, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday asserted that the Centre was doing everything in its power to bring the Malayalee priest back home safely.

Speaking in the Parliament today on the matter, Swaraj assured that the government was making same efforts for Father Tom as it did in the case of Father Alexis, who was brought back from Afghanistan.

"We are in touch with the countries which can assist us in locating him not only at my level, but the Prime Minister himself held discussions during his visits. We are making continuous efforts to locate Father Tom," she said.

However, Swaraj added that the authenticity of the video on Facebook would be verified first.

Earlier, a video clipping allegedly of Catholic priest from Kerala Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was abducted by the Islamic State militants in Yemen, surfaced on Facebook.

Four months since his abduction, the video clipping shows the blind-folded priest getting thrashed by unidentified men in an unidentified location.

The video has reportedly been uploaded from a Twitter account belonging to Taji Non and carried a message: "I got a vid on WhatsApp for Fr Tom Uzhunnalil under torture."

Besides, a purported image of Father Tom shows him sporting a beard.

It also carries a header, "Fr Tom's entreaty will be uploaded soon ..! will also be uploaded on Facebook."

The person in the video footage bears an uncanny resemblance to Father Tom.