Guwahati: Despite appeals from different quarters, the fate of the two hostages of a Delhi-based private oil company -- who were kidnapped two months ago -- is still hanging in balance as even the Assam Police as well as Arunachal Pradesh are clueless over their latest position.
Congress' deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take appropriate steps to get the two officials released at the earliest.
"The abduction and actions of the ULFA-I (United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent), are being widely criticised by the people of Assam. Given the sensitive nature of the matter and the potential threat to the lives of the two abductees, I urge you to take the matter into immediate considerations for appropriate action," Gogoi said in his letter to Shah.
Earlier, Assam's Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma requested the self-styled commander-in-chief of ULFA-I, Paresh Barua, to "refrain from any action that may shame three crore people of Assam in the eyes of the world".
"People of Assam had to be shameful earlier when ULFA killed Sanjoy Ghose and detonated a bomb at a school in Dhemaji (in eastern Assam). I appeal to Paresh Baruah not to trigger any more bloodshed. Assamese people felt disgraceful and shocked after those incidents. The two kidnapped people are innocent and ULFA-I must release them and for this, we would be grateful. I am requesting them with folded hands," the senior BJP leader said while speaking at a television show.
Ghose, a rural development activist, was killed by ULFA in the river island of Majuli on the Brahmaputra river on July 4, 1997.
In 2004, an explosion was triggered by ULFA through a remote control device during the Independence Day celebrations on August 15 at a school in Dhemaji, which killed 18 people, mostly school children.