In this culture people eschew offering bad news. Instead they fall silent.
I was phoned this morning by the rescue team and advised that they were due to enter the Amar Circus by lunchtime today, accompanied by representatives of ChildLine India. I asked for a follow up phone call by late afternoon.
This afternoon I spoke to Nick Sankey, a colleague in Kathmandu, who said that he'd heard from the team that the girls at the circus didn't want to leave and they were saying that they were being well looked after. This is undoubtedly a reflection of terrorised, brutalised girls acting under duress. Since then I have heard nothing and most of all nothing from the team leader. This silence is very suggestive of failure and that the girls are still in the hands of their captors and oppressors.
