“More than 20 days have elapsed and there is no word from him. He had called from an Indian cell number which is switched off since then. Why is the government not sending him back when it claims that he is safe and with them. Is he not being sent back because he knows something about the missing men?” Robin Maish asked.
According to Robin, Harjit along with around 40 other men, was bundled into a truck by the militia and taken to an isolated place where their money and cellphones were confiscated. “He somehow managed to flee and told us that he sustained a bullet injury on the leg when the militia fired at him. He was given a lift up to the Erbil check-post by a Bangladeshi driver from where he established contact with the officials of the Indian embassy. On June 16, he made an Internet call and spoke twice with my mother. After that we heard from him on July 29 and he seemed frightened and uneasy, even though he told us that he is safe.”
Government’s gestureMeanwhile, the Punjab government has begun giving the families of 22 persons from Punjab Rs. 20,000 a month. This is in addition to Rs. 50,000 given by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Rs. 10,000 by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
Gurpinder Kaur, sister of Manjinder Singh of Amritsar who is among those abducted, said that when the families questioned Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal why they were being a given a monthly amount, he said this was to help the families with day-to-day expenses as the missing men had not received their salaries in Iraq and were unable to send money home. Some of the families had received the payment for July while others were yet to get it, she said. Shimbho of Jalandhar district said they were offered the money when they went to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi last month. “But this money cannot compensate us for our boys. The government does not answer our questions but just tells us to have patience,” she said.
