Nimisha Priya action council seeks MEA help for Yemen talks

The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council has appealed to the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to allow its representatives to travel to Yemen for crucial talks with the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, the victim in the Nimisha Priya case.

The Action Council chairperson P.M. Jabir and general convener Jayachandran K., in a memorandum to MEA Secretary, sought a relaxation of the existing travel ban to Yemen for its five-member team. It also requested the Central government to depute two members to lead the discussions in Yemen.

Team members

The five-member team proposed to travel to Yemen comprise Supreme Court lawyer and the council’s legal advisor Subhash Chandran K.R., council treasurer N.K. Kunhammed, member and Yemen returnee Sajeev Kumar, Islamic scholar and Kerala Haj Committee chairman Hussain Saqafi Chullikkode, and Yemen expert Hamid.

The council acknowledged the roles of the Central government as well as Sunni leader Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliar and some Sufi scholars of Yemen in getting the July 16 execution of Nimisha Priya postponed.

The council assured that it would raise the diyah or blood money required to save Nimisha Priya once the talks are finalised with the family without seeking any government funds.

The Attorney General of India, R. Venkataramani, recently told the Supreme Court that only Nimisha Priya’s family should engage with the victim’s relatives in Yemen and that intervention by any other organisation would not be effective. The Supreme Court, however, asked the action council to approach the Central government.

The council, in its memorandum to the MEA, said that Nimisha Priya’s family would be unable to make any effective negotiations with the victim’s family due to its socio-economic constraints. It also pointed out the recent allegations of financial fraud levelled by the victim’s brother against the power of attorney holder representing Nimisha Priya’s mother in Yemen.