Page 32 - English Tehelka Issue 7 - April 15, 2018

The case of 39 Indians in Iraq

raises uncomfortable questions

The Ministry of External Affairs took four years to confirm the deaths of 39 Indian
workers in Iraq despite witnesses bearing testimony to their killings by the ISIS. Was the
tactic adopted due to political considerations? vivashwan singh writes

n an anguishing development, Masih affirmed that in June 2014, help of a caterer using a fake name,
the Union External Affairs the ISIS terrorists captured the Ali. Sticking to his stand that all the
Minister Sushma Swaraj re- factory where he along with the Indian workers, including him, were
cently told Parliament that the 39 others used to work, and they fired at by terrorists, Masih told
I administration found DNA were eventually kidnapped. Later, media persons that he had used a
proof with respect to the deaths Masih said, “...they forced us to sit different name as “Indian officials
of 39 Indians who disappeared in on our knees, in a row, and opened would have killed me if I had said
June 2014 from Mosul, Iraq, after fire. I received a shot in my right leg my name is Harjit and I am an In-
the ISIS seized control over the city. and was covered with bodies. I fell dian.” Harjit was also lured with the
Her declaration ended years-long unconscious. The next day, when I promise of a job if he said that oth-
speculation, generally from the ad- regained consciousness, I found all ers were not dead.
ministration’s part, on the destiny of my fellow workers dead. After a few In 2014, the news media claimed
the missing workers. This declara- days of walking, I managed to reach that 39 out of forty Indian workers • Families that Badush prison was demolished The larger uncertainty that re- While the mission to rescue the
tion comes subsequent to clashing a Bangladeshi relief camp and was who went missing in Iraq in June await bodies by ISIS in 2014 itself to free some mains unanswered is why did Min- nurses succeeded, the MoEA did not
statements by Swaraj starting with rushed to hospital. A week later, I that year were reportedly killed Bodies of 39 300 prisoners of its own hard-line istry of External Affairs take four admit that the mission to rescue the
news of the kidnapping, trailed by returned to India.” Sushma Swaraj, by the Islamic State militants. In Indians killed Islamist persuasion. Last year, Iraqi years to confirm the deaths of 39 39 workers had failed. Furthermore,
affirmations that they were alive however, had disputed Masih’s fact ABP news channel exclusively in Iraq to be Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari, Indians? Why was Masih’s account Modi, for the Meghalaya elections,
in 2015, moving into “can’t confirm claims and asserted that he was ly- spoke to two Bangladeshi men in brought to on his India visit, said that he was rejected, in spite of support by Bang- felt the necessity to announce that
without proof” in 2017 and now the ing. She claimed Masih had escaped Kurdistan’s capital Erbil. The two India in a unsure whether 39 Indians kid - ladeshi workers who were stuck in 46 nurses rescued in 2014 were all
acceptance of their deaths in 2018. along with Bangladeshis with the Bangladeshi nationals, working for week’s time, napped by ISIS were alive. a similar circumstance? For what Christians as majority of Meghalaya
The news has come as a shock a construction company in Iraq, says minister Punjab chief minister captain reason did they drag the families’ follows Christianity.
for the kins of the deceased, who mentioned about Harjit Masih who Amarinder Singh claimed that expectations for this long just to No coherent clarification, other
until now considered them to be Swaraj claimed miraculously escaped from the the government had known of the ‘officially’ declare what had been than the way that the administra-
alive. The deceased were mostly clutches of the ISIS. Yet the govern- deaths before. Also Congress MP known from the beginning? From tion needed DNA confirmation, can
construction workers from Pun- that the ment was rigid on their stand of the Shashi Tharoor wanted to know 2015 to 2017, Bihar, West Bengal, be seen here. The issue of confirma-
jab, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and workers being alive. why the government had given Himachal Pradesh and Punjab were tion of evidence is bureaucratically
West Bengal. DNA matches from missing Indians Sushma Swaraj on July 16, 2017 “false hopes”. There was dismay all heading for the Assembly Elections. justifiable, in any case, such tech-
the bodies disinterred out of mass were at the said: “General Singh has received around, with the Opposition openly There is a possibility that the Modi niques work better only when one
graves surrounding the disreputa- confirmed information from a attacking the government for giv- government tried to cover up the individual is involved, for instance,
ble Badush prison, on the outskirts Badush prison. senior Iraqi official that first the ing hope to the families when there incident and mislead the public. in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav.
of Mosul along the banks of River Shockingly, the workers were used for hospital re- was none. National Conference It’s not sure if they did it deliber- The government and diplomacy
Tigris, had confirmed the deaths of construction, then they were used leader Omar Abdullah said it was ately thinking that this issue could failed not only failed in locating
the missing Indians. According to a same prison was for farming, then they were sent to “unpardonable” that the families of have a negative impact on the BJP the hostages but also in dealing
detailed narrative by the lone sur- demolished by Badush prison. But since they were the 39 Indians had to learn about in the state elections. In June 2014, with their relatives who have had a
vivor from the group, Harjit Masih, sent to Badush prison, the intel - their heartbreaking loss from tel- immediately after the abduction of rough time trying to approach the
the remaining men were executed ISIS in 2014 itself ligence agencies do not have any evision channels instead of the gov- these 39 workers and another 46 government. The way MEA handled
on June 15, 2014, just four days after to free around additional information. That is why ernment. CPI(M) general secretary nurses at Tikrit, it was reported that the issue, particularly with the fami-
their abduction. Masih, who report- once the fighting in Badush ends, Sitaram Yechury on the other hand the National Security Adviser Ajit lies of the lost, will raise many more
edly escaped from Iraq in June 2014, 300 hardline when the area is cleared, only then asserted ‘failure to save lives is bad Doval and the Intelligence Bureau uncertainties than answers.
claimed he was shot in the leg but Islamist militants will we know what their situation enough; but misleading the country Director Asif Ibrahim had flown to
managed to flee. is now.” The most shocking thing is is inexcusable’. Baghdad and Riyadh respectively. letters@tehelka.com

tehelka / 15 april 2018 32 www.tehelka.com tehelka / 15 april 2018 33 www.tehelka.com

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