Abducted Indian workers in Iraq ‘promised freedom’

Several families of 40 Indian
construction workers abducted in strife-torn northern Iraq say they have
spoken with the men, whose captors claim they will be freed unharmed,
reports said Thursday.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Wednesday
that the 40 workers had been abducted in recent days in the Iraqi city
of Mosul, which Sunni militants have overrun in a deadly ongoing
insurgency. The ministry said no demands
for ransom had been made and the workers’ whereabouts, along with who
was responsible for the abductions, were not known.

But Charanjit Singh said his brother called him on Wednesday “for a
couple of minutes” to tell him the workers were safe and that their
captors had claimed they would be released if someone from the
government made contact. “He said he and his co-workers from India were all safe and not held hostage,” Singh told The Hindu from his home in Punjab. “They
say (the militants) will release them if someone responsible from the
Indian military or government comes to collect them,” Singh added.

Gurpinder Kaur said her brother told her on June 15 that the
militants had promised to free the group “safely without any conditions”
if New Delhi got in touch with them. She added that the Indians were taken by the militants on June 11, according to the Indian Express newspaper.

While the families said the phone calls were cause for optimism, the
government has warned that the situation on the ground remains “very
difficult”.

With details of the abduction
sketchy, other families said they feared for the fate of the workers,
who had been earning money on construction projects to send back home. “We are hearing all sorts of news from Iraq, visuals on the television are frightening and we are very worried about him,” Ranjit Kaur told the Hindustan Times of her son Jatinder Singh.

Parkash Singh Badal – chief minister of Punjab where most of the
workers come from – said “we are ready to bear all the expenses for
bringing them back”.

Humanitarian agencies and the Iraqi government have confirmed the
abduction of the workers, who were employed by the Tariq Noor Al Huda
construction company, India’s foreign ministry said. About 10,000 Indian nationals are currently in Iraq with some 100 caught in violence-hit areas, the ministry added.

Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have
taken over vast swathes of territory as they advance on Baghdad, amid
fears that the country could fall apart.​