39 Indians killed in Iraq: 'Why Centre kept us in the dark?' ask grieving families

NEW DELHI: Namita Sikdar's four-year wait for her husband ended in tears on Tuesday as she saw external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj inform the Rajya Sabha that all 39 men missing in Iraq since 2014 were dead. Khokon Sikdar, 48, a mason from Tehatta in Nadia district of West Bengal, last called home on June 18, 2014, to say he had been kidnapped. That was also the last time the family of Samar Tikadar, 36, an electrician from Chapra in Nadia, spoke to him. The men, working with a construction company, had gone missing from Mosul. Samar Tikadar's wife Dipali heard about her husband's fate as word got around in Chapra about the minister's statement in Parliament. Neither homemaker has received any official confirmation, either from the Centre or the state. "In the last four years, I tried my best to get a clear information about the condition of my husband from the government. I appealed even to Sushmaji, but I did not get any information. It appeared that the government was hiding something. In February, they collected DNA samples of my children and sister-in-law. Even then the government did not disclose the purpose behind it. They had the information about the death of 39 Indian workers," Namita, who works at an ICDS centre, told the Telegraph Calcutta on Tuesday. As they try to come to terms with the grim reality, family members of the 39 Indians massacred years ago in Iraq by ISIS have one question: why did the Centre keep them in the dark all this while? Heart-rending scenes were visible outside the homes of the deceased even in Punjab as wailing family members tried to give vent to their pain having heard on TV, Sushma Swaraj's statement that bodies of all 39 Indians in ISIS captivity had been recovered. Sarwan, the brother of 31-year-old Nishan who was among those killed by ISIS in Mosul, told PTI: "The government kept us in the dark all these years". Now after four years, they are making such a shocking statement, he said. "We met the Union minister (Swaraj) 11 to 12 times and were told that as per their sources, the missing Indians are alive. They have been saying that Harjit Masih, the lone survivor, is a liar. If your sources have been saying they were alive and now suddenly what happened. The government should have told us they have no information about missing Indians rather than making false statements," he added. Sarwan spoke to Nishan over phone for the last time on June 21, 2014. The family of deceased Manjinder Singh also asked similar questions. "Initially, they were saying the Indians are alive. Now the minister today made such a statement," Gurpinder Kaur, sister of Manjinder, told PTI. "I am trying to know from the government how all this happened," she said. Thirty nine Indians that went missing in Iraq in 2014 are dead, informed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The 40 Indian nationals along with around a dozen Bangladeshi workers were employed by a construction company in Baghdad. They were abducted by ISIS in Mosul. The Bangladeshi lot were set free after a brief period for being Muslims. One Indian citizen also manged to escape. Sushma said the confirmation of deaths to her ministry was given by Martyrs' Foundation which conducted the DNA tests of the bodies. She said the mass grave had exactly 39 bodies, with distinctive features like long hair, non-Iraqi shoes and IDs. (With inputs from The Telegraph Calcutta)