Shocking the Parliament and India, yesterday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had claimed that 39 Indians were killed by the ISIS in Iraq.
Sushma Swaraj’s claim was backed by the lone survivor Harjit Masih, who has been consistently maintaining for three years that all the missing Indians had been shot dead by the ISIS.
Curiously, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swraj, in her statement on Tuesday, described the account as ‘a cock and bull story’. Swaraj insisted that Masih had lied. He had not survived a massacre, as he had claimed, but escaped with a group of Bangladesh colleagues under the assumed name of “Ali” and was found by Indian officials at Erbil (Iraq). “We asked how he reached Erbil, but he kept saying ‘I don’t know… just get me out,’” said the minister.
But Masih is adamant: “I had spoken the truth.” A case was also registered against Masih after his return from Iraq and he had to spend six months in jail. “The case was registered against me by the families of the 39 deceased. Even my father died because of this tension,” he adds. He claims he got embroiled in the case because he told the truth about the death of all the 39 Indians in Mosul. “It would have been better if I would have died there. I got stuck in this thing for I told truth to the government about the death of the Indians,” Masih told a TV channel. Sushma said she dismissed his claims ‘‘as he was not willing to tell me how he escaped.”
Masih says they were killed in front of his eyes and he is now wondering why the government was not accepting what he had said. Giving details of the incident, Masih said that several Indians were working at a factory in Iraq in 2014. “We were kidnapped by militants and kept hostage for some days,” he said. On the fateful day, they were made to sit on their knees and the militants then opened fire upon them. “I was fortunate to have survived as the bullet hit my thigh and I fell unconscious,” he said. He, however, managed to return to India after giving a slip to the ISIS militants.
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WHY DID SUSHMA SWARAJ DISREGARD MASIH’S CLAIM?
Sushma Swaraj has dismissed the allegations that the lone survivor, Harjit Masih, who escaped from Iraq’s Mosul, was harassed and kept in a protective custody.
While addressing the media on the issue of 39 Indians killed in Mosul, Swaraj on Tuesday said, “It is baseless that Harjit Masih was harassed, he was kept in protective custody. I had said this in Parliament earlier.” The EAM earlier confirmed that all the 39 Indians, who went missing in Mosul in the year 2014, were killed by the Islamic State (IS).
Swaraj further said, “Masih is just an individual, he could claim 39 others are dead; but we are the Government, we cannot say this so easily. We have to be responsible.” Masih had escaped with a group of Bangladesh colleagues under the assumed name of “Ali” and was found by Indian officials at Erbil.
The EAM also said that Minister of State (MoS) External Affairs General V.K. Singh will go to Mosul in Iraq to bring back the mortal remains of the 39 Indian nationals killed there. Swaraj explained that the plane carrying the mortal remains will first go to Amritsar, then to Patna and Kolkata.
When she was asked whether the government will give compensations to the families of those killed in Mosul, Swaraj said, “It is premature to answer this question. We have to talk to the state governments also,” adding, “Let us hand over the bodies first.” In July last year, Swaraj had firmly said in the Parliament that she would not declare the 39 Indians dead without concrete proof or evidence.
Earlier, India had asked Iraq for help in locating the missing Indians after Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul from IS. The 39 persons, most of whom hailed from Punjab, were working on projects near Mosul when they were kidnapped during their evacuation.
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