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On 15 June 2014, 40 Indian construction workers were kidnapped by the ISIS in Mosul, Iraq. While Harjit Masih managed to escape, the fate of the other 39 has remained unknown.
The lingering doubt that they might have been shot dead within days of their abduction was confirmed by Kurdish officials via email on Wednesday, as reported by The Indian Express.
External Affairs Ministry officials have contested the email, saying that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has received information from intelligence services that claim some of them are safe and negotiations are on for their release.
This information is devastating to the families of the workers who have been repeatedly assured by the Indian government that some of them are still alive.
The sister of one of the construction workers who was abducted, Gurpinder Kaur Cheem, has been active on Twitter, constantly asking the PMO for help. On Wednesday, she tweeted to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj demanding answers.
She has tried multiple times to get in touch with the Prime Minister, according to The Indian Express.
According to Kurdish officials, the workers were initially held by local Mosul militia with links to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party, and then handed over to ISIS.
While there was evidence proving that some of them were alive till 19 June, the recent information provided by Kurdish officials has denied the possibility of their survival.
(An earlier version of this copy wrongly spelt the name of Saddam Hussein.)
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