Bhubaneswar:
The double hostage crisis in Odisha took a serious turn on Sunday with the two separate Maoist groups, who have abducted an Italian national and a ruling BJD MLA, toughening their stand over the release of the hostages.
The release of Italian hostage Paolo Bosusco, abducted on March 14, has run into some difficulties with the Maoists asking the Odisha government to first "clarify" how many ultras from the list of seven would be set free and which of the 13 demands have been accepted by the state government.
Mr Bosusco, the 51-year-old tour operator was taken hostage by the Maoists on March 14 along with compatriot Claudio Colangelo, a tourist. Even as Mr Colangelo was allowed to go, Mr Bosusco continued to be held captive with the Maoists remaining firm on the charter of demands.
On Sunday, Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda in a fresh audio message to the media claimed that the release of seven people had been sought by him and "the government had earlier agreed to release six". But on Saturday, it said it would free only five. "We want to know who Chakra Tadingi and Bijay Tadingi are and why their names have been included in the list of five persons to be released in the Italian hostage issue."
"This has created confusion and suspicion and the government should make it clear how many prisoners are going to be released along with their names," Panda, who is the secretary of the Odisha State Organising Committee, said.
Panda also demanded that the government clarify how many of his group's 13 demands were accepted. He wondered why the final agreement, if any, did not mention which of the demands were accepted by the government and why others were not considered,
"Is it unreasonable to demand access to portable water, primary education, health facilities and irrigation cover for land in every village?" he asked and also wanted to know why the demand for the lifting of the ban imposed on 'mass organisations' is not acceptable to the government.
This came came in when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was busy holding an emergency meeting at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar on the hostage crisis with the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and the DGP.
"There seems to be some confusion. Government negotiators and Maoist-appointed mediators had come to a clear conclusion yesterday. But there appears to have been some mis-communication and confusion among the Maoist group headed by Sabysachi Panda regarding this. I hope all these will be cleared by them (mediators) soon," Mr Patnaik told reporters after the meeting.
Mr Patnaik said Italian Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte had again called him and expressed deep concern about Mr Bosusco.
To add to the state government's woes, the Andhra Odisha Border Committee which has held a ruling BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka captive, has issued a letter this evening saying it is willing to release him if his wife and family members come to a village near Narayanpatna in Koraput district on April 10 along with 30 released prisoners including the five named by them on Saturday as well as the two mediators in the Italian hostage issue, BD Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty.
Mr Hikaka was kidnapped by Maoists two weeks back.
Referring to the demands by other Maoist group holding BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka hostage to free five more of its people, Mr Patnaik said the "legal issues involved were being examined by the government."
The group has extended the deadline for meeting its demands to April 10 for the release of the 37 year-old legislator.
Stating that the government had announced release of prisoners as a humanitarian gesture, the chief minister asked both Maoist groups to reciprocate and release Mr Hikaka and Mr Bosusco.
A senior official said, "It is surprising that the Maoists have raised new questions about their demands even after their own mediators agreed to all points discussed during negotiations and signed the joint statement on Saturday.
On Saturday night, Home Secretary UN Behera had said that the fortnight-long negotiations for the release of the Italian had ended and an agreement had been reached.
The joint statement on Saturday said the mediators had given six names - Arati Majhi, Manmohan Pradhan, Suka Nachika, Chakra Tadingi, Bijay Tadingi and Subhashree Das of whom five would be released.