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Families of two teachers abducted in Libya long to hear their voice

Hyderabad - Telangana government wants Centre to ensure their safe return to India

Chief Secretary to the Telangana government Rajeev Sharma on Saturday wrote a letter to the Union External Affairs Ministry to step up efforts to secure the release of two Telugu persons, Balaram Kishan and T Gopi Krishna, who were kidnapped by Daesh in Libya recently.
In the letter written on behalf of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Sharma said the Union government should ensure the safe return of the two, both of whom are teachers at the University of Sirte, at the earliest through negotiations with the Libyan government.
The kidnappers had, on Friday, released two other teachers from Karnataka. Both the Telugu persons are residents of Hyderabad. While Gopi Krishna hails from the north coastal Andhra town of Srikakulam, 52-year-old Balaram Kishan hails from Karimnagar district in Telangana.
KCR, as the chief minister is known, is in constant touch with senior officials in New Delhi and is following up the developments, sources in the Chief Minister's Office said.
Meanwhile, the families of the two abducted Telugus are in a state of shock and worried about their well-being. Though the news of the release of two other teachers from Karnataka has given some hope, the families are tense since there has been no word about Gopi Krishna and Balaram Kishan's welfare.
Balaram Kishan's wife Sridevi had received an SMS on Friday from one of those released that all were safe, but the two Telugu families are anxious as there has been no further information. "I just want my husband to call me up and say he is safe. The government should exert all pressure to secure their release and ensure that all four are brought to India at the earliest," Sridevi, who teaches economics at a college in Hyderabad, said.
The same is the story in Gopi Krishna's house. His wife Kalyani, who was in Libya with her husband till 2011 along with her son, said: "My husband always used to insist that Libya was a safe place and that Libyans had treated him well. I am now praying for his safe return to Hyderabad."
Gopi Krishna's parents Naranyana Rao and Saraswati also urged both the Union and the Andhra Pradesh governments to secure the release of their son. AP Minister for NRIs Welfare P Raghunath Reddy assured the parents that the state government was taking all measures to secure the release of Gopi Krishna. Srikakulam MP K Rammohan Naidu, meanwhile, met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday and submitted a memorandum seeking the Centre's intervention in the release of Gopi Krishna.
According to reports quoting friends, Gopi Krishna was not happy with the conditions in Libya. After working as a lecturer in Hyderabad, he went to Libya in 2008 as he was offered an assistant professor's job with lucrative package of Rs170,000 at Sirte University.
According to his friends, he has not been happy in Libya for the last one year following political disturbance and insurgency. In fact, he wanted to shift his wife and daughter to Libya two years ago but dropped the idea following the deterioration in the situation. He himself, however, could not return immediately on account of the job agreement with the university, and felt that breaking it would be a blot on his record.
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