Confusion over 39 missing Indians in Iraq continues

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj met the families of all the 39 construction workers. She confirmed that there is no information pertaining to their death. MoS VK Singh has been sent to Erbil to trace the missing Indians immediately after news broke that Mosul has been freed from ISIS.

In what could be called an update on the fate of the 39 missing Indian construction workers in Iraq, allegedly abducted from Mosul three years back, the MEA has confirmed that there is no news of their death. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj met the families of all the 39 workers and said that she has information that they were in a jail at Badush near Mosul. 

However, a media report from Badush said on Saturday that the jail was no more than an abandoned structure and has been unoccupied for several weeks. Speaking to PTI, Swaraj has been quoted as saying, "An official who quoted intelligence sources told Gen Singh that they were deployed for a hospital construction and then in a farm. From there, they were sent to a jail in Badush. There has been no information since then."

Meanwhile, MoS V K Singh has been sent to Erbil to trace the missing Indians immediately after news broke that Mosul has been freed from ISIS. Speaking on the government's take on the missing Indians, BJP President Amit Shah said, "the government is not misleading anybody. The search is on." Iraq, however, claims to have no knowledge of the workers and that there was a possibility that they could have been taken to Syria.  Iraq's ambassador to India- Al Issa- meanwhile said that the Iraq government is cooperating with the Indian government in tracing the workers. 

Previous intelligence reports received by the MEA did not have any conclusive information about the death of the Indian workers. The government, however, had received the statement of a survivor Harjit Masih who had escaped from the captivity of ISIS who said that all the 39 Indians had been killed.