NEW DELHI, India -- The kidnappers of Romnian Charge d'Affaires Liviu Radu released a photograph of the diplomat flanked by two gun- wielding Sikh militants Saturday and threatened to cut him into pieces unless the Indian government bowed to their demands.
The four Sikh militant organizations that claimed responsibility for Radu's abduction delivered a package containing the photograph and a two-page, hand-written message in the Punjabi language to the United News of India news agency in New Delhi.
The letter repeated the kidnappers' demands for the release of three Sikh militants imprisoned in the city of Pune while awaiting execution after being sentenced to death for the 1986 slaying of former Indian Army chief Gen. A.S. Vaidya.
'The responsibility for securing the relase of the diplomat rests on the Indian government,' UNI quoted the message as saying. 'If the government wants to secure the release of the diplomat, it should immediately free Harjinder Singh Jinda, Sikhdev Singh, alias Sukha, and Nirmal Singh, alias Nimma.'
A Poloroid photograph enclosed with the message showed the 55-year- old Radu wearing an off-white shirt and gray trousers and seated on a carpet. He was flanked by two masked Sikh militants each holding two Soviet-made AK-47 automatic rifles.
Radu had a grim look on his face in the photo, UNI said. His hands were clasped to his chest and his head was inclined toward the right. His two seated guards, their faces wrapped in white cloth, had mounds of arms and ammunition in front of them.
The message, which threatened to cut Radu 'into pieces' if the kidnappers demands were not met, warned that the condition of the Romanian diplomat, a heart patient, was deteriorating rapidly because 'he has stopped eating and drinking,' UNI said.
'It is well known to the government that we do not have even basic medical facilities to be given to heart patients,' the message said. If Radu collapsed in 'our custody, the responsibility for his death would squarely lie with the Indian government.'
The package was delivered to the United News of India office in New Delhi at 12:45 p.m. Saturday and was signed by the same four Sikh militant groups that claimed responsibility Friday for the abduction in a letter to a Press Trust of India bureau in Punjab.
The four Sikh militant groups are the Khalistan Liberation Force, the Bhindranwale Tiger Force, the Khalistan Commando Force and the Sikh Students Federation. All four organizations are based in India's northwestern Punjab state.
Sikh militants have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent theocratic nation called Khalistan, or 'Land of the Pure,' in Punjab. More than 13,000 people have died in the violence, with the annual death toll growing worse each year.
Officials were discounting an earlier claim of responsibility by a previously unknown militant group and were taking the statements of the four other organizations seriously because the Khalistan Liberation Force is known for its carefully planned kidnappings.
Radu was abducted by four gunmen Wednesday morning shortly after he left his home in the upper-class Jor Bagh neighborhood for a drive across town to the Romanian Embassy, where he served as charge d'affaires in the absence of an ambassador.
Three militants in an Indian-made compact car followed as he left his home. Another suspected militant lowered an unmanned police barricade across the road as Radu approached an intersection just a few blocks from his home.
Radu's kidnapping came just six weeks after Romanian authorities arrested two suspected Sikh militants following an assassination bid against Indian Ambassador J.F. Ribeiro in Bucharest.
Ribeiro, 62, was shot and wounded as he and his wife, Melba, walked along Aviatorilor Boulevard. Two Romanian commandos witnessed the attack and opened fire, killing one militant and wounding another.
The wounded militant and a third assailant were arrested by Romanian authorities. A fourth man escaped but was still believed to be in Romania.
