With Mosul being liberated from the control of the Islamic State (IS), the government has received information that a group of Indian men are stranded in the city, where 39 Indians were kidnapped by the terror group in 2014.
Speaking to The Hindu , a representative of the families of the missing persons said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj revealed this information in a meeting she held with them on Thursday. “Sushmaji informed us that the government has learnt of the presence of a group of Indians in the city of Mosul in Iraq and is investigating the condition they are in. The government has flown an officer to Iraq to ensure that the men remained safe. They are expecting to find out more details,” said Gurpinder Kaur, leader of the delegation of family members that met the Minister.
Eleventh interaction
Thursday’s meeting was the eleventh interaction the Minister had held since the kidnapping was first reported. The reported presence of the Indian nationals has brought hope to the family members of the men who last called home on June 14, 2014. On that day, all the men called home to inform that they were being taken away by a group of IS fighters. Since then, they had not been heard from.
