The government will not declare the 39 missing Indian citizens in Iraq dead without evidence. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday that there is no concrete evidence that the 39 Indians abducted from Mosul in Iraq have been killed.
No evidence
“This file will not close till there is proof that the 39 Indians were dead. I will not commit the sin of declaring them dead without any evidence,” Ms. Swaraj said, two days after holding talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister on the issue.
Ms. Swaraj said, “I have never misled. I want to ask the Opposition what benefit will I get by misleading. What benefit my government will get by misleading the people on the issue,” she said.
The 39 Indians were abducted by the Islamic State in 2014, within three weeks of the swearing-in of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
