Maoists to release Italian hostage

Maoists to release Italian hostage

Bhubaneswar: Barring any last minute hitch, Italian hostage Paolo Basusco may be freed soon from his three-week capitivity by Maoists who reached an agreement with the Odisha government Saturday night.
Another group, which had abducted BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka, extended its deadline to April 10 demanding release of five more people whose names were not on the list of 27 who were offered to be released by the state government in a swap deal.
“We have reached an agreement and concluded the fortnight-long negotiations with mediators nominated by CPI (Maoist) for the release of Italian Paolo Bosusco,” home secretary UN Behera told reporters as both sides released a signed joint statement after the talks.
Behera, who led the three-member state government side at the negotiations, said the joint statement was signed by both sides as demanded by the Maoist Odisha State Organising Committee which was holding Bosusco captive since March 14.
As already stated by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the assembly, negotiators from both sides agreed that the state government would facilitate the release of five of the six persons whose release the Maoists had demanded, Behera said.
The joint statement said that after several rounds of discussion, the mediators had given six names - Arati Majhi, Manmohan Pradhan, Suka Nachika, Chakra Tadingi, Bijay Tadingi and Subhashree Das.The statement said the government would facilitate release of 5 of these 6 persons.
The Maoist mediators, B D Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty, after concluding the agreement, appealed to the Maoists to release Bosusco immediately and in good health.
Mounting pressure on the state government, Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda had yesterday threatened to take the “extreme step” against the 54-year-old Italian hostage if his demands were not met within 96 hours.
Meanwhile, rejecting Odisha governments offer of releasing 23 prisoners, the Maoist group holding Laxmipur MLA Hikaka captive extended the deadline for fulfilment of its demands till April 10 and sought release of an additional five persons. A senior leader of Maoist Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee said that the MLA, abducted in Koraput district on March 24, was safe. —PTI