CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss demanded urgent action to rescue five Tamils reportedly kidnapped by militants in Mali.
"The abductees, hailing from Thoothukudi and Tenkasi districts, are identified as Kodiyangulam Navivan (near Ottapidaram), Naraikinaru Ponnudurai, Veppangulam Pechimuthu, Muthu (from Krishnapuram near Kadayanallur, Tenkasi) and Suresh (Pudukkudi Thalapathi). They had been employed by a Mumbai-based firm and were working on electrification at a private company when militants seized them, " Anbumani said in a statement.
He added that no information has reached the families, who live in poverty and have taken low-paid, risky overseas work. He urged the central and Tamil Nadu governments to coordinate with Mali's authorities to negotiate their release immediately.
Warning that armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda routinely abduct foreign workers for ransom, he called for dignified local employment in Tamil Nadu to prevent residents from taking dangerously low-paid jobs abroad.