Hope for amicable solution to Norwegian kids' crisis: Indian PM

Seoul, March 26 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday hoped for an "amicable and good" solution to the custody crisis over two Indian children in Norwegian foster care.

"The prime minister hoped for a amicable and good solution to the issue," Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai quoted Manmohan Singh as telling his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg at a pull-aside meeting on the sidelines of the March 26-27 Nuclear Safety Summit here.

"The welfare of the children and the interests of the parents should be taken care of," Manmohan Singh added.

Pointing to the deep family ties that were part of Indian tradition, Manmohan Singh hoped for "an outcome that would be positive, taking into account the interest of the law, the children and their parents", Mathai told Indian journalists accompanying the prime minister.

Manmohan Singh's response came after Stoltenberg informed him that the Stavanger municipality was planning to take the next steps in the case in full consultation with the parties concerned.

Abhigyan, 3, and Aishwarya, 1, children of Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya living in Norway's Stavanger, were taken under protective care by Barnevarne (Norwegian Child Welfare Services) last May on the ground that they were not looked after properly by their parents.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be contacted at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)