The wife of the Sri Lankan truck driver abducted by the Islamic guerillas, says that her husband`EDs employers had threatened him to go to Iraq otherwise he would be deprived of his job and earnings.
`ECHe phoned me before leaving Kuwait to Iraq to transport food supplies to US soldiers. He told me that his employer had threatened that he would be removed from his job and he would have to fly back home on his own if he refused go to Iraq,`EE Doreen Buljans, wife of abducted Dinesh Dharmendra Rajaratnam (36) said.
"He wanted us to send a fax message to his employer saying that there was a very pressing need for him to return home immediately," she said. "He was not paid the salary that was promised."
Rajaratnam a father of three boys, resident of Elakanda Road, Hendala left for Kuwait June 9 last year. He was kidnapped by the Iraqi group `EBAnsarul Sunnah`ED last Thursday along with a Bangladeshi truck driver.
Doreen and her children came to know of the abductions after a television channel had reported the incident. They visited the local job agency and were told that they could do nothing. She said that her husband had told them that he was earning a pittance, compared to what he was promised when he had signed the contract.
The truckers were seized on Thursday by the Islamic Army in Iraq, which, according to Al-Jazeera television, released a statement saying "the two hostages were abducted before driving their trucks into a US base in Iraq".
A video with the name of the extremist group showed each of the presumed hostages separately and a number of identification documents, including a Kuwaiti driving license.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minster Vishwa Warnapala says the Sri Lankan government is taking every action and using all available diplomatic channels to secure the release of Rajaratnam.
