New Delhi: The Iraqi government has claimed that its army had retaken Mosul city from the Islamic State after a nine-month battle that displaced an estimated 920,000 people.
The July 9 announcement has brought hope and trepidation to the families of 39 Indian construction workers who were taken prisoner in the city in 2014. Their relatives are asking the Indian government to secure their return.
Harjit Masih, one of the abducted, managed to escape. During a press conference in May 2015, Masih said that, a few days after their capture, the workers were all lined up and shot. According to Masih, he feigned death, fled, and returned to India, where he was held in custody for months. The rest of the workers, he said, were almost certainly killed during the shooting.
The government has not accepted Masih’s account. “The information we have so far is that they are alive, because we have no other information to prove that they are not alive,” said Gopal Baglay, an external affairs spokesman, on June 16.
The ministry has not issued a formal statement on July 9. One official spoke to the Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity, “The government has been doing everything possible to bring them back. We never abandoned hope. I cannot tell more about this due to the sensitivities involved.”
According to two different officials with knowledge of the situation, one of the government’s sources in Mosul reported last month that some Indian workers were hiding in a church in the city.
India has sought the help of countries in the region. During a meeting in New York on September 29, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the president of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, to pass on information he receives about the captive workers. Abbas told Modi that the prisoners were still alive.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has met the relatives of the abducted men on 12 different occasions. The last such meeting was held in early June.
Most workers hail from Punjab.
“The last time we met the minister, we were told that the Indian government knew the location of all 39 people,” Gurpinder Kaur, whose brother, Manjinder Singh, is among those missing, told the Hindustan Times newspaper. “They even said that once the area is freed from ISIS, the government will be able to establish contact with them.”
Other family members shared Kaur’s cautious optimism. Harbhajan Kaur (no relation) is hoping for the return of her son, Harsimranjit Singh. She said that Swaraj had assured her that “all the boys were safe”. “This has brought a big sigh of relief to the family,” said Kaur. “The government must respond immediately.”