Families of missing youths want answers from govt

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 23

Families of Punjabi youths missing in Iraq are angry with Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh for “inadequate” ground check during his visit to Mosul earlier this month and plan to approach the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for help, if the government fails to locate their kin soon. On his return, VK Singh had said the kidnapped Indians could be in a prison in Badush. But media reports say the prison has been razed and that there are no inmates.

“The minister and his team could not gain access to a place that media could. With no ground work, the minister simply returned home after closed-door meetings with his Iraqi counterpart,” said Gurpinder Kaur, sister of abducted youth Manjinder Singh from Amritsar. 

Lambasting Indian Embassy officials in Baghdad, she claimed that sensing danger, her brother and fellow compatriots working at a construction site in Mosul had called them up for help on June 3 before their kidnapping. “They urged the officials that they be evacuated before it was too late, but their pleas went unheeded. Now the government says we must be patient and keep hope alive when timely action could have saved us from the suffering,” she said.

The anxious families want Army personnel sent to Iraq to rescue their kin. “The Iraqi Government seems to have  submitted a ‘flawed’ intelligence report on their whereabouts. We no longer have faith in them. We want the Indian Government to send a Special Forces team to locate our kin,” said Amarjit Kaur, wife of Kulvinder Singh from Kapurthala.

The families are not pinning much hope on the visit of Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who will be reaching Delhi tomorrow. “We want the truth and nothing else,” said Gurpinder gloomily.

Iraqi Foreign Minister arrives today 

New Delhi: When Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari arrives in the Capital on a five-day visit on Monday, the issue of the 39 missing Indians in Iraq is likely to take centre stage. The Iraqi Embassy here says a search is underway for the missing Indians taken prisoners by the Islamic State and that there is a high-level coordination between Iraqi and Indian authorities in this regard. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who had said the missing Indians could be in Badush jail, has come under criticism following reports emanating from Badush that clearly show the prison is destroyed and there are no inmates. With Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa saying he would move a privilege motion against Swaraj for “lying to the Lok Sabha” on the whereabouts of the missing youths and senior Shiromani Akali Dal MP Prem Singh Chandumajra too planning to submit a Calling Attention Motion on the issue, the pressure on the government is mounting. TNS