MEA awaits details on abducted Indians

Pinning hope on Iraqi minister's visit next week

India is anxiously looking forward to Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s visit to New Delhi next week, as the latest clue about 39 Indians kidnapped in the West Asian country three years ago proved to be a red herring.

New Delhi was pinning its hope on a report that the 39 Indians kidnapped by the Islamic State from Mosul in northern Iraq in June 2014 were lodged in a prison still under the control of the terrorist organisation at Badush in Nineveh Governorate of the war-ravaged country.

Recent media reports, however, made it clear that the jailhouse in Badush, nearly 25 km northwest of Mosul, had already been razed.

Jaafari will reach New Delhi on Monday for a five-day visit.

Sushma to seek help
He will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is likely to request him to provide credible information on those kidnapped. She is also likely to seek his help in locating them. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh had visited Iraq soon after its prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced on July 10 that the Iraqi army had liberated Mosul from IS.

Sushma had told journalists that Singh was told by sources during his visit to Iraq that the kidnapped Indians might be in a jail in Badush — the report which now stands corrected.

The Ministry of External Affairs did not comment on the media reports that were contradictory to what, according to Sushma, Singh had learnt from the sources during his visit to Iraq.

The IS had kidnapped 40 Indian workers — mostly from Punjab and Bihar — from Mosul in northern Iraq, after the city fell into the hands of jihadists of the Islamic State on June 15, 2014. They were all employed by the Tariq Nur Al Huda Company and were working at a construction site in Mosul. One of them managed to escape from the custody of the militants.