News

News

Hostage Dinesh back tomorrow
Ambassador Farook secures release of Bangladeshi too
By Asif Fuard
Kidnapped Sri Lankan truck driver Dinesh Rajaratnam's wife was in the kovil on Tuesday praying for the safe return of her husband when she had received a call on her mobile phone from a friend, which was an answer to her prayers.

She could hardly believe her friend who said the one o'clock news on TV had reported her husband had been released by the Iraqi insurgents. She was skeptical as the hopes of her and her children had been dashed on several occasions before when unconfirmed reports of her husband being released by the insurgents had been received.

The confirmation by the Foreign Ministry about the release of Dinesh gave her confidence, she said. She told The Sunday Times she had got the news that her husband was in the Indian Embassy in Baghdad. She said she was disappointed that she couldn't get a chance to speak to her husband even though he was released.

Dinesh is due to go back to Jordan and fly back home from there. From the time Dinesh was held hostage by the Iraqi resistance groups his family had gone through severe mental trauma. The wife Rita Doreen said she couldn't eat or sleep. She had made several vows at many kovils while people abroad had prayed for Dinesh as well, she said.

Rita said her only thoughts were centred on when Dinesh would return and whether he would ever return. Her daily routine was to send the children to school in the morning, visit the kovil and then go to the Foreign Ministry or to her in-laws' house to know the latest news about him.

The children who missed their father so much were glued to the TV every evening to know whether there was any news about him. When the children were videoed at the Foreign Ministry to make an appeal to the insurgents to send their father back home safely they were filled with emotion.

The family is hoping that Dinesh would be able to find work in Sri Lanka and this hope has been strengthened since the Deputy Foreign Minister had promised the family a better future once Dinesh comes back home since it was poverty that forced him to go to Iraq.

For Dinesh the children meant the whole world to him. To educate and give his children a better life was what he always wanted. This was the main reason he had gone to Kuwait as a truck driver.

Dinesh's youngest son Dilan Kumar had passed his Year Five scholarship exam, which will bring happiness and pride to the father. Meanwhile the family is arranging their house for Christmas. Dinesh's three sons are hoping their father will make it before Christmas so they could spend the festive season together like old times.

Top

Back to News