Families worried by the safety of Indians abducted in the country

A week after three Indians were abducted in Mali, their families say they still have no information about their location and are concerned about their safety.

The India Foreign Ministry said the men who worked at a cement factory in Mali were “violently taken” by a group of “armed attackers” last Tuesday.

The Mali government is just commenting, but the abductions took place on a day when a group of al -Qaeda – Jama’at Nusrat al -islam Wal Muslimin (JNIM) had made several attacks in the African country.

According to the government, about 400 Indians have lived in Mali, a country with which India has a trade relations since the 90s.

Last week’s incident comes after Five Indian citizens were abducted In Niger, in April during an attack by armed men who also killed a dozen soldiers, according to Reuters news agency. There is no update on their location.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are struggling with an uprising associated with al -Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), which began in North Mali in 2012 and has since spread to neighboring countries.

Mali is the eighth largest nation on the African continent and falls in the Africa Sahel region, who described the Global Terrorism Index as a “epicenter of global terrorism” earlier this year. The region is “over half of all terrorism -related deaths,” according to GTI.

In a statement the day after the abductions, the India Foreign Ministry urged citizens to live in Mali to “exercise extremely caution, to remain vigilant and to remain in close contact with the Indian Embassy in (the capital of Mali) Bamaco.”

The men were taken from the diamond cement factory, run by the Indian Business Prasaditya Business Conglomera, in Case. The company and the factory have not issued any statements so far. The BBC turned to them for an answer.

On the same day, men were abducted, jihadists fighters began a series of simultaneous attacks on military posts in many cities in Mali.

A resident of Kayes, where the cement factory is located, told the BBC that rifles “everywhere” can be heard during the attack.

The abductions caused a wave of panic among the Indian relatives of those living in Africa.

The Indian government said it was related to the Mali authorities, the factory where men had worked, and the relatives of the abducted men – but the BBC Telugu spoke with members of the family of two of the men who said they had little information about their relatives.

Panad Venkatamana’s mother, one of the abducted men who worked as an engineer at the factory, said she had last spoken to her son on June 30.

“He said he would work and call later,” said Narsama, who only passes with one name.

“Three days later, we received a call from the company, but we couldn’t understand what the calling was saying. We later saw on television that my son was abducted,” she added.

Venkatramana is from the eastern state Odisha and his family filed a complaint with the local police, seeking their help to find him.

They have found support from former Chief Minister of Odisha Nave Pattak, who published on X, calling on Foreign Minister S Jaishankar to “intervene in person on the subject” and to provide “early and safe release” to Venkatramana.

In the southern states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the family members of another of the abducted men – Amaralingvra Rao, who worked as an assistant general manager at the factory – are looking forward to returning home.

His father, Koorakula Venkateswarlu, told BBC Telugu that his son had gone to Mali eight years ago to support his family.

“The salary (in India) was low. He has three children to raise,” said Venkateswarlu.

His son planned to visit India in October and booked tickets for flights. But now, he says, they have no idea when they will see him.

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