Swaraj Told The World Before Us: Kin of 39 Indians Killed in Iraq

Bereaved families of 39 Indians feel betrayed after they got to know of the news through TV channels.

After nearly four years of wait, distressed families of 39 Indians in Iraq who were declared dead by EAM Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday, 20 March, questioned as to why the Centre kept telling them they were alive and why no attention was paid to Harjit Masih’s ordeal after he escaped from Iraq.

Several relatives of the killed workers also complained that they were not officially informed about their loved ones by any government authority.

The announcement was made by External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in Rajya Sabha confirming that all the 39 Indians, abducted by the ISIS in Iraq nearly four years back, were killed and their bodies were recovered.

As many as 40 Indians were originally abducted by terrorist organisation ISIS in June 2015 from Mosul in Iraq. Harjit Masih, the sole Indian who managed to escape the ISIS captivity, had earlier claimed that all 39 other Indians were killed by the militants.

An inconsolable Gurpinder Kaur, whose 27-year-old younger brother Manjinder Singh was among the missing, also asked similar questions.

“We were not even told about it, we came to know from the TV,” she added.

Manjinder Singh, who was into farming, was pushed into Iraq by fraudulent travel agents, she said. He wanted to go to Dubai, said Kaur.

The family of Gobinder Singh also learnt about the shattering news from TV channels.

We have not received any call from the Union ministry about the confirmation of death of 39 Indians.

Davinder Singh, brother of deceased Gobinder Singh

“What do we say now?” asked a dejected Sarwan, whose 31-year-old brother Nishan was among those killed. "The government kept us in the dark all these years. Now after four years, they are making such a shocking statement,” Sarwan, who belongs to Amritsar, added.

We met the Union minister (Swaraj) 11 to 12 times and were told that as per their sources, the missing Indians are alive. They have been saying that Harjit Masih, the lone survivor, is a liar. If your sources have been saying they were alive, now suddenly what happened? The government should have told us they have no information about missing Indians rather than making false statements.

Sarwan, brother of deceased Nishan

Last year, the government of India collected DNA samples of the family members of the missing Indians.

Among the 39 Indians who were missing, most were from different places in Punjab such as Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar.

EAM Sushma Swaraj specified in her address that search operations led to a mound in Badoosh where locals said some bodies were buried by the ISIS. Deep penetration radars were used to establish that the mound indeed was a mass grave, she added.

Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh will be flying to Iraq to bring back the bodies on a special flight, she added

(With inputs from PTI)

(The Quint has given up the use of plastic plates and spoons. This Earth Hour, what will you #GiveUp to save the planet? Use the hashtag #GiveUp and tag @TheQuint to tell us.)