BHUBANESWAR: At long last, the hostage crisis seems to be nearing a happy ending. As the talks resumed on Wednesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that the Government would facilitate the release of 27 prisoners __ eight Maoists, 15 CMAS activists and four political prisoners. But he stopped short of announcing the names; it would be done on Thursday.This comes a day after the abductors of BJD legislator Jhina Hikaka set April 5 deadline and called it the ‘last’ deadline. Wednesday’s announcement would expectedly lead to early release of Hikaka and Italian hostage Paulo Bosusco, kept captive by two separate Maoist outfits.“Considering the safety of Jhina Hikaka, the young tribal MLA of Laxmipur, it has been decided by the Government to facilitate the release of 15 members of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh and also eight Left Wing extremists, who are now lodged in jails of Koraput and Malkangiri,” Naveen told the House.Considering the demands of the Odisha State Organising Committee of the CPI(Maoist) for freeing Italian national Bosusco, Naveen said it has been decided to facilitate the release of four persons from the list given by the mediators.Adding to obvious anxiety and suspense, Naveen said the names of all these persons will be announced on Thursday. The Andhra-Odisha Border Zonal Committee (AOBZC) of the CPI(Maoist) has set April 5 deadline for the Government to act for the safe release of Hikaka. Naveen had sought extension of Maoists’ ‘last’ deadline.Earlier, the Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution appealing to the Maoists to release Hikaka unharmed. “This House expresses deep concern over the abduction of the MLA by Maoists. We unanimously appeal to Maoists to release the MLA immediately unharmed,” the resolution moved by the Chief Minister said. After a day’s break, talks between the Government and Maoist negotiators B D Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty resumed on Wednesday. Fresh talks to resolve the Italian hostage crisis began on Monday night after a threat from the Odisha State Organising Committee of CPI(Maoist) secretary Sabyasachi Panda that Paolo might be harmed if any action was launched against them.Meanwhile, a letter written by Hikaka to the Chief Minister was released to the media on Tuesday which stated that he was safe. Hikaka pleaded that tribals lodged in jails on the charge of being Maoists be freed soon so that he could be released unharmed.
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