Don't politicise Badush

There is no positive news yet on the 39 Indian construction workers abducted from Mosul in June 2014. While we would pray hard for their well-being and safety, there is also the fear that kin must prepare for the worst. A war was being fought for three long years in parts of Iraqi territory between the official Iraqi forces backed by the US and allies, and the terror group ISIS. It is only now that those ranged against the ISIS are claiming victory, at least in Mosul where the very concept of ISIS was declared to the world in 2014. The relatives of the Indian workers have been living in hope over the fate of their dear ones. It is in dealing with hope that the Indian government may have been overeager and optimistic to the extent of believing in every bit of intelligence and rumour coming out of the war-torn region.

To politicise the issue of the government saying it had inputs to the extent that the Indians were being held in the Badush prison is to make capital out of human despondency. Images coming out of Badush from an Indian television channel have dashed all hopes, as there is only rubble there and no prison. What has happened to the Indians likely to have been kept captive there is anybody’s guess? It’s fine for kin to be very disappointed at the positive lead the external affairs ministry believed it had. To imagine the Congress would pile on the government by bringing in a privilege motion against the two ministers who spoke about the Badush prison is to think the worst of Indian politics. It’s quite possible no one knows anything tangible or credible about the fate of these poor workers. Pray for them but don’t add to the misery of their kin in India.