“Liberation of Mosul from Daesh is an important milestone in the global war on terror, and India welcomes it. As soon as the announcement of liberation of Mosul was made by the Prime Minister of Iraq, the government activated various channels for locating those Indians,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.
“The ambassador of India to Iraq and our consul general in Erbil have been instructed to continue the efforts to locate them on priority. 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 for the same,” Baglay said.
Daesh had abducted 40 Indian construction workers in July 2014 from a project in Mosul. But one of them managed to escape Daesh captivity and insisted that all the remaining workers had been shot dead by Daesh. But Indian External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has assured time and again to the family members of the 39 workers, mainly from the Indian state of Punjab, that all are alive.
Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh will meet the top Iraqi government officials and will trace the whereabouts of the 39 missing Indian nationals.
“I am very much hopeful that my brother will come home. I have met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj several times and every time she assured me that all the Indians are safe there. Now, Daesh has left the city and our government must do everything to trace all the 39 Indians and bring them back to India,” Gurpinder Kaur, sister of one of the missing persons, Manjinder Singh, told Sputnik.
