Mortal remains of 38 Indians killed in Iraq brought back
Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh has landed in Amritsar with the bodies of 38 Indians killed by the ISIS in Iraq four years ago. One body isn't being brought back as DNA testing provided only a 70% match; the rest had matched more than 95%. Singh had left in a special aircraft from the Hindon airbase in UP yesterday.
VK Singh tweets #RestInPeaceMyFellowIndians
Why the delay in the process?
The bodies had been kept at Baghdad's Medico Legal Institute of the forensic sciences department. The release took time due to Iraq's lengthy documentation process, officials said. From Amritsar, Singh will go to Patna and Kolkata to hand over the bodies to their relatives. Of the 39, 27 are from Punjab, six from Bihar, four from Himachal Pradesh and two from West Bengal.
Families assured rehabilitation, but disallowed to open coffins at airport
Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Social Justice MoS Vijay Sampla were at the airport to receive the bodies. Sidhu assured rehabilitation to the gathered families. However, their request of being allowed to open the coffins at the airport was refused; the deputy commissioner cited time constraints, saying 4-7 minutes had been allotted for the departure of each coffin from the airport.
Police deployed from the airport to victims' native villages
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has urged Dalit protesters, who have called a Bharat Bandh today over the Supreme Court's ruling in the SC/ST Atrocities Act case, to allow the mortal remains of the Iraq victims to pass peacefully. Police have been deployed on the routes.
Escaped hostage had informed in 2015 about the deaths
India confirmed the deaths only last month, four years after they were kidnapped from Mosul by the ISIS. In 2015, one of the 40 kidnapped returned alive and claimed the others were killed in the desert near Badush in June'14 itself, when they were abducted. But Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj had dismissed his claims, insisting till last year that they had no proof.
