It is a sin to declare someone dead without proof, says Sushma Swaraj on 39 Indians missing in Iraq
The minister told the Lok Sabha that she did not have evidence to prove that they had died or were still alive.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said the government had not “misled anyone” on the report that 39 Indians were missing in Iraq. When the Opposition in the Lok Sabha asked why she was not declaring the missing Indians dead, Swaraj said it was a sin to assume someone was dead without proof.
“The files of those missing or believed to be killed cannot be closed until they are proven dead,” Swaraj told Parliament. She asked the Opposition to ask the families concerned whether they believed she was lying.
Indians abducted by the Islamic State
In June 2014, it was reported that Islamic State militants had abducted 40 Indian labourers – all them from low-income families in Punjab – from a construction site near Mosul.
In November 2014, the two Bangladeshi labourers who had been kidnapped with the Indians had claimed after their release that 39 of the 40 Indians had been shot dead, but one had managed to escape. Almost immediately, Swaraj had announced that there was no proof of the deaths, and that the government would continue to search for them.
On Wednesday, Swaraj told Parliament that she had called for areas near Mosul to be searched after Harjit Massih, the Indian who managed to escape the Islamic State, said 40 people were taken hostage by the terror outfit.
“While he managed to flee, he said the rest were killed before his eyes...There was no list or video released by ISIS, which the group often produces after killing foreign nationals,” Swaraj said. “Why should I believe Harjit Masih’s claims?”
The minister further said that Iraq had never declared the 39 missing Indians dead. “I don’t have concrete proof of their death, but I have no proof that they are alive either,” she said. “If I get one solid proof of their death, I’ll tell them.”