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| 39 Indians killed in Iraq's Mosul; govt fooled kin, says Congress | | | Agencies
After four long years of hope for the families of the Indian construction workers kidnapped by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 from Iraq's city of Mosul, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday told Parliament that all 39 of them had been killed and buried in a mass grave. The revelation set off a row with the Opposition, which accused the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of being insensitive in noting informing the victims' kin first. Swaraj's suo motu statement on the fate of the kidnapped Indian workers confirmed the worst fears of the kidnapped Indians' families after keeping alive hopes of their survival for four years.
The revelation would have come as a shock to the families and kin of the 39 deceased workers abducted in Iraq since Swaraj had earlier made statements, including one on July 22, 2017 in the Lok Sabha, that "as per the latest information from multiple third-party sources, they are all safe".
The government's treatment of the matter was criticised by the families of the deceased, as well as by the Opposition. The Congress described the Modi government as "heartless" for misleading the country over the deaths of the 39 Indians in Iraq and demanded that Swaraj apologise to the families. The grieving families, for their part, have one question to ask the Modi government: Why did you keep us in the dark for so long?
Amid criticism and questions being raised over the government's treatment of the matter, Swaraj held a press conference and defended the Centre's handling of the issue, saying that the government could not declare a person dead without a concrete proof. The external affairs minister added that it was her duty to first inform Parliament about their deaths. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the death of the 39 Indians and said that every citizen was grieving with those who lost their loved ones in Mosul.
Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said that it might take up to 10 days to bring back the mortal remains of all the 39 Indians killed in Iraq because there were legal processes involved. The bodies of the deceased which were exhumed from a mass grave in Iraq's Badosh would be handed over to their relatives after being brought back to India on a special plane.
The victims -- 27 from Punjab, four from Himachal Pradesh, six from Bihar, and two from West Bengal -- were construction workers employed by an Iraqi company in Mosul. The victims were taken hostage when the Islamic State took control of the second-largest city in Iraq. They were trying to leave Mosul when they were abducted. |
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