CPI urges PM Modi to get priest released

Senior CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP, D Raja today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take all possible steps to secure the release of Jesuit priest Alexis Premkumar abducted in Afghanistan.
"The CPI strongly condemns the abduction of Jesuit priest Father Alexis Premkumar by Taliban terrorists and we urge PM Modi to take all possible steps to get him released," Raja, was here to participate in the Executive Committee meeting of the CPI, told reporters.
The Central government should use the goodwill that exists between India and Afghanistan which was visible by the participation of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's in the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and his Cabinet, Raja said.

Stating that the kidnapping was a blatant violation of human rights and intimidation of activists engaged in relief work, the CPI leader said all steps should be taken by the Centre to get Premkumar safely released.
Premkumar, who hails from Tamil Nadu, was working with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), an educational charity, as its Afghanistan Director and has been in the war-torn country for over three years.