New Delhi: The Government of India today said it remains “engaged” very seriously on tracking the where about of 39 missing Indians in Mosul area in Iraq. The Indian government has also requested the Iraqi authorities to alert the airports about the movement of Indians — not just the missing 39 people – but even other Indians, MEA spokesman Gopal Baglay told reporters here. Indian embassy and the Consulate General have been alerted and Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) VK Singh, who has reached Iraq, has handed over a letter from his senior Sushma Swaraj to the Iraqi foreign minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari. “At the moment we remain engaged very seriously and very sincerely at high levels,” Mr Baglay said.
The MEA spokesman said the local Iraqi authorities have assured Indian government that “they have sensitized” their security forces about the presence of Indians. He said Gen VK Singh had traveled to Erbil on July 10 and reached Baghdad yesterday. General Singh today tweeted from Iraq claiming that the frontline areas of Mosul were being cleared by the Kurdish military forces in Iraq, Peshmerga. The MEA spokesman Mr Baglay said the recapture of Mosul is a “significant development”. “It represents a brave victory of the Iraqi forces assisted by the international coalition on the forces of evil and destruction,” he said.
Mr Baglay said the visit of Gen Singh is basically to ensure the safe return of Indians. “We also remain steadfast with Iraq in its fight against terrorism but of course we are also concerned about the Indians,” he said. The ‘recapture’ of Mosul by Iraqi forces by July 9-10 has certainly revived hopes of getting information of 39 Indian construction workers who were taken prisoner in the city in 2014. In his telephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has on July 9 said that the families of the hostages were keenly awaiting the return of their kin following Iraq’s victory over ISIS in Mosul. On the recent assurance from Yemen Deputy Prime Minister Abdulmalik Abduljalil Al-Mekhlafi about Keralite Christian priest Tom Uzhunnalil, who was allegedly abducted by ISIS last year, the MEA spokesman it was “very encouraging assurance”. He said Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was abducted in April 2016 from Aden, is “alive” and that Yemen authorities are making all efforts to secure his release.
