Maoist rebels in India who are holding two Italians hostage issued a series of demands on Monday, including a call for tourists to be banned from travelling to see indigenous tribal people.
Paolo Bosusco, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61, were abducted on Wednesday in the eastern state of Orissa in what is believed to be the first kidnapping of foreigners by the left-wing militants. The Maoists, who have fought an insurgency against Indian authorities for decades, issued 13 demands for the release of the Italians. The list included ending the government’s anti-rebel operations, stopping tribal tourism and releasing jailed Maoist leaders. “Tribals are not commodities for tourists and tribal areas are not meant for tourism,” the Maoist statement said. “Those violating this should be arrested and punished.”
Bosusco has been living in Orissa for a decade and runs an adventure tourism company, police said, while Colangelo is a doctor in Rome. Bosusco’s travel company, Orissa Adventurous Trekking, says on its website that it offers holidays to “a different India from the Taj Mahal, far, very far from the crowds of tourists.” Orissa authorities said they were ready to communicate with the Maoist kidnappers, who are part of a dispersed armed rebellion active across much of central and east India.
“We are open to discussions with them,” Orissa Home Secretary U.N. Behara told reporters in the state capital Bhubaneswar, 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest from Kandhamal district where the men were abducted. “After they nominate their mediators… possibly the process can start,” he said. Two Indians accompanying the Italians were released early on Sunday, police said. The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and landless farmers, have previously kidnapped local officials and villagers, freeing some after negotiations but killing others. Italy’s consul-general in India, Joel Melchiori, said he was hopeful the hostages would be freed soon. “We are cooperating very much with the government and we hope to move on to find a possible solution,” Melchiori told reporters after reaching Bhubaneshwar.
