'If I speak it may go against him'

17 jan 2010JAIPUR: Even as the Ajmer district court delivers its verdict on the bail application of green traveller Andy Pag on Monday, his Italian friend, Viera, told TOI on Sunday that she can't believe her friend is in legal trouble in India. According to her, it was she who had insisted Andy to travel to Pushkar and unwind.
"It's me who asked him to go to Pushkar and I had no clue that this would land my friend in jail," Viera told TOI from Italy.
Viera, who returned to Italy after accompanying Andy to a few locations in India, was projected as an absconder after Andy's arrest. Andy is in judicial custody since January 11 after he was arrested for keeping a
satellite phone.
Viera, who works with a public sector organisation in Italy, recalls that she was with Andy in Agra and drove with him to Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur and then to Pushkar and returned. "I have been to India four times and love the place. When I heard that Andy was to visit India, I joined him. I was travelling as a tourist on a personal visit," she said. Hesitant to talk much, Viera said: "I don't know if anything I speak might go against him. I've been hearing the reports calling me his girlfriend. This is not true, we have been friends for 10 years."
Meanwhile, Andy continues to make headlines back home. The BBC News reported his arrest saying "Chip fat fuel driver Andy Pag in India terror arrest." The report said the 34-year-old campaigner has been driving a biotruck to highlight the benefits of using low carbon energy. It added that Pag, who has both British and Italian nationality, has been travelling on an Italian passport. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had not been involved in providing consular services to him, it stated.
Andy's sister Francesca told TOI: "On Saturday night, BBC 5 Live did air two-four minutes news on Andy's arrest. They have been covering him ever since he set out on this trip and also spoke to me on the current scenario. His friends are coming over to our place to support the family. We hope he is released on Monday."
The press in US too wrote about Andy's arrest and slapping of terror charges against him. Washington Post carried an article about his green campaign and his subsequent arrest.
Viera added, "Andy was encouraging many people to join him on the trip. Friends, family and even hitchhikers. It was part of the living-on-two-tonnes-of-carbon strategy."
To that end, his father Piero joined him for the Milan — Istanbul stretch, he had a hitchhiker in Turkey, in Iran he was joined by sister Francesca and another friend, while a couple of friends joined him in India. The nature of such a trip is that it can be very lonely on the long roads between towns and sometimes it's nice to have someone along with you. He was looking forward to many more such encounters in India."