Over a month after his release from the clutches of the dreaded Islamic State, Father Tom Uzhunnalil’s life seems to be slowly returning to normalcy.
Looking healthier than what he did when he de-boarded the Royal Airforce of Oman Plane in September this year, today Fr Tom is at the Don Bosco Provincial House in Bengaluru. He is looking forward to visiting his family in Kerala next month.
Fr Tom is known as one of the few fortunate survivors of the Islamic State carnage. Abducted in March last year when an unidentified group attacked the Missionaries of Charity in Yemen, Fr Tom was kept in captivity for 18 months. Today, he is thankful to everyone who worked and prayed for his safe return.
Remembering the dreadful day Fr Tom says, ‘I had just finished my prayer. It started off like any other day. Then I heard some gun shots from the security cabin. I just told them I was Indian. They made me sit down and brought 4 of the 5 nuns outside. I saw them shoot 2 of them down.’
But despite being witness to the gruesome act, Fr Tom says that he did not panic. He was then put in the boot of the car and taken away. Fr Tom was shifted 4 times over the next 18 months. He was blindfolded each time his location was changed.
The Salesian priest had gone to Yemen in 2015 in the midst of the civil war despite a government advisory. But despite enduring months of captivity he expresses no regret, ‘There were several workers in the Church at that point. They could leave the country only because I returned. Had I not gone back, they would all have been killed in the attack’.
But despite his experiences, Fr Tom says he harbours no hate against his captors, ‘I don’t know who my captors were. They always covered their faces and only spoke to me when they had to give me some instructions. They never pointed a gun at me. They did not torture me physically. How can I have negative feelings against them? I believe in the good in everyone. I believe they too have some good in them’.
Though not physically tortured, the priest does acknowledge the emotional stress of not having a companion. He had to live an isolated life for one-and-a-half years, without any real conversation or access to books, tv or radio. But the priest that oozes positivity says, ‘Freedom is the capability of doing the right thing. They had only physically confined me’.
Today Fr Tom is happy to be back home. Not curious about the negotiations that took place, Fr Tom says that he is willing to go back to Yemen is permitted. ‘Bullets and bombs will not bring peace to the world. It’s forgiveness that will bring peace’, says the man who escaped clutches of the most dreaded terror organisation in the world.
(Source: DNA)