MEA goes all out; Swaraj assures help to get 40 abducted workers back
New Delhi has intensified its efforts for the early release of 40 Indian construction workers kidnapped in Mosul after the Iraqi Government told Indian diplomats that it has identified the location where the workers are kept.
India has been conveyed that the kidnapped workers are alive. However, there is still no assurance about their safety. “There is no safety in captivity. Safety is in places where people are welcome,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin. The initial information of kidnapping was given to India by Iraqi Red Crescent.
“We have been informed by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry that they have been able to determine the location of where these abducted Indian nationals are being held captive with workers of a few other nationalities,” Akbaruddin said.
In another development, a nurse in Tirkit told The Pioneer over phone that they have been asked to resume work and attend the injured, by a “representative” of Islamic States of Iran and Syria (ISIS). About 46 Indian nurses, who have been holed up inside a hospital, said that they are safe and want to come home.
On the kidnapping, the Government is not willing to share operational details, or the identity of kidnappers but it is learnt that the kidnapping took place while the workers were being evacuated for safety. Indian diplomat Suresh Reddy has reached Baghdad on Thursday morning and is talking to Iraqi officials for early release of kidnapped Indians. Reddy was till recently the Indian ambassador to Iraq and is believed to have good contacts in the country.
The MEA said the Government is “persistently” following the matter with Iraqi authorities, and Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said she is personally monitoring the situation for early release of the Indians. Swaraj on Thursday met relatives of some of the kidnapped workers belonging to Punjab who came along with Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.
The Indians, mostly from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, were working on a construction project in Mosul in northern Iraq.
Meanwhile, Swaraj on Thursday chaired meetings of Crisis Management Group twice. Secretary East in-charge of Gulf region Anil Wadhwa also had conversations with Iraqi Ambassador Ahmad Tahsin Ahmad Berwari for an update on the situation, said Akbaruddin. “The Government is sparing no efforts to ensure their safe return. Safety and release of Indians is our first priority,” Swaraj said. The MEA also said that documentation and passports will not come in way of return of Indians.
Meanwhile, a “representative” of the “people who are in control” met Indian nurses stranded in a hospital in Tirkit and told them that they are safe inside but they cannot leave the building. The hospital is under the control of militant group ISIS. The nurses, who have been holed up in a ward of the hospital, were on Wednesday asked by this “representative” to resume work and attend the injured.
The “representative”, reportedly, told the nurses that they are in control of things now. He also offered the nurses that those who want to stay back but they will have to work for lesser salary. Some of the nurses who have taken loans for their tour to Iraq are ready to accept new terms and are even mulling the offer to stay back. But many want to come back. But there was no assurance from the ISIS representative as to when they can go.
“I am inside the hospital but cannot say I am safe. I want to come back,” Marina, a nurse from Kerala told The Pioneer over telephone from Tirkit. Marina informed that they are being ushered from their wards to the emergency area by an “official” but they are not sure if he is with the militants now or with the Iraqi Government. “Our phones have been recharged by the Red Crescent members for ten dinar each. In fact the food too is supplied by Red Crescent. We are giving missed calls to our families and they call back,” said Marina.