Govt rushes minister, 39 Indians may be in Mosul

New Delhi: The Indian government said on Monday that Iraq had assured it of full cooperation in locating 39 Indian nationals believed to be in captivity in Mosul after the Iraqi government declared victory over the Islamic State forces there on Sunday.

The minister of state for external affairs, Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd), will travel to Erbil in northern Iraq later on Monday and India has activated all diplomatic channels for information on the 39 Indians abducted by the ISIS in 2014. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj assured Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh the MEA was “making all-out efforts to trace and facilitate the return” of the 39 Indians, most of them from Punjab, who have reportedly been held hostage in Mosul since 2014. Capt. Amarinder Singh had called up Ms Swaraj seeking her intervention, saying the families of the hostages were keenly awaiting the return of their kin after ISIS’ defeat and needed the Centre’s support to bring them back.

The Indian government has been dismissing claims from some quarters that the ISIS had executed most of these Indians, with has consistently maintained that it has not got confirmation from any of its sources in West Asia that these Indians were not alive. The MEA said in a statement: “In response to a query (on) the fate of 39 Indians missing in Iraq and reportedly kept in Mosul, the official spokesperson said that the liberation of Mosul from ISIS is an important milestone in the global war on terror, and India welcomes it.”

The MEA added: “The official spokesperson also said as soon as the announcement of the liberation of Mosul was made by the Prime Minister of Iraq, the government activated various channels for locating those Indians. Minister of state for external affairs V.K. Singh is to travel to Erbil later today. The ambassador of India to Iraq and our consul-general in Erbil have been instructed to continue the efforts to locate them on priority. The Iraqi authorities have conveyed that all cooperation would be extended in this regard and instructions have been issued by them to all relevant Iraqi agencies.”