Maoist rebels in India's eastern state of Orissa Friday refused to release an Italian hostage abducted over three weeks ago, even though the government offered a swap deal, media reports said. Authorities had Thursday offered to free 27 Maoist rebels and their sympathisers in exchange for Jhina Hikaka, a lawmaker with the ruling Biju Janata Dal party, and Italian tour operator Paolo Bosusco.
Hikaka and Bosusco were abducted in separate incidents by two different Maoist groups last month. Sabyasachi Panda, the leader of one Maoist group, in an audio message broadcast by some local television channels, described the talks the government held with the Maoists-backed mediators as a "farce" and said the Italian will be not be released, the IANS news agency reported.
Criticising the government for not signing any concrete agreement with the mediators on their demands, Panda said his group will take an "extreme step" if the government does not meet the Maoists' demands by Tuesday. Besides release of the rebels, the insurgents had also called for a halt in counterinsurgency operations in the region and punishment for police officials accused of custodial deaths and rape, among other demands. Militants from the other Maoist group that took Hikaka captive have yet to respond to the government offer.