Six people hailing from Punjab return home; others in Iraq safe, Sushma Swaraj tells CM

Chandigarh/New Delhi: Six Punjabis hailing from Gurdaspur district, who were stranded in strife-torn Iraq, have returned home safely even as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj assured that all the Punjabis in Iraq were safe.

Jaswant Singh, a resident of Balewal village, Shamsher Singh of Sallo Chahal village, Satnam Singh of Natt village, Parhlad Singh of Aliwal village, Surinder Ram of Puranshala village, and Major Singh of Thikriwal near Qadian, all in Gurdaspur district, returned to their homes safely last night.

They travelled to their homes in Gurdaspur district after landing at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. It was a touching scene when Jaswant Singh reached his home amidst tears rolling down his face as his elder brother had died of heart attack a few days back after learning about the strife in Iraq.

He told reporters that after the recent strife in Iraq, his company neither paid him the salary nor his dues and only provided him with a return air-ticket to India.

According to Jaswant's family, he had gone to Iraq two years back and was working as a labourer in a company. He was stranded with other Indians after ISIS fighters took over the area where he was living.

Talking to the mediapersons during his 'Sangat Darshan' programme in Lambi assembly segment in Muktsar district, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that Sushma Swaraj had informed him over phone in the morning that all the Punjabis in Iraq were safe.

He said that his government was constantly in touch with the Centre to ensure the safe and prompt return of all Punjabis stranded in Iraq.

With nearly 200 people from Punjab stranded in Iraq, the state government has decided to bear the expenses for bringing them back safely and also reimburse the expenses incurred by distressed families for making phone calls to Iraq, an official spokesman said earlier in the day.

Knowing well that making frequent international calls was a costly affair, the Chief Minister has decided that the state government would repay the entire expenditure incurred by them on making these calls, he said.

The Punjab Government had on Friday submitted a detailed report to the External Affairs Ministry about the 200 Punjabis stranded in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Punjab BJP chief Kamal Sharma said that NDA government was making all out efforts to ensure the safe return of Indians working in Iraq and expressed satisfaction with the diplomatic efforts made in this direction so far.

Punjab Congress has also started a helpline at its party headquarter in Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, efforts continued to secure the release of the 39 kidnapped Indians in Mosul town of strife-torn Iraq with the government remaining in touch with the countries in the region to resolve the crisis after identity of the captors were known.

Government said all the Indians in captivity were "unharmed" and it was "fully engaged" and "every possible effort" was being made to ensure their release.

As efforts were on to rescue all the Indians from the troubled areas in Iraq, Amnesty International claimed that hundreds of Indian nationals may be stranded in Najaf province.

The human rights watchdog claimed it had spoken over the phone with some Indian workers working for an infrastructure and construction company who said they were in danger as their employers had "refused to return their passports", thus rendering them unable to leave the Gulf country.

"Evidence has emerged which suggests that several hundred Indian nationals may be stranded in Najaf province of Iraq, unable to return home because their employer refuses to return their passports," Amnesty International India said in a statement.

Official sources here said the Indian mission in Baghdad has already contacted the company concerned and the matter is likely to be resolved soon.

"We have contacted the company concerned. The companies are already responsive. We are already working with them. They will have these people come across. There will be somebody from embassy who goes there, will sit down with the company and all the employees and decide on this," they said. They also said India remained in contact with a number of countries in the region besides Iraqi authorities to resolve the crisis.

The sources further said government has indication about the identity of the captors and it was in touch with International Red Crescent in Iraq.

"All the 39 Indians in captivity are unharmed as of today," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.

40 Indian construction workers were kidnapped from Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, which was seized by Sunni militants, and one of them fled from the captors.

When asked about identity of the captors, the sources refused to divulge details citing operational issues and safety of the kidnapped Indians but added that they were kept with people from other nationalities.

The Indian who fled from the captivity was undergoing debriefing and was said to be in complete safety.

He is learnt to be in "friendly location" and no ransom demand has been received so far.

The sources said 16 Indians who were evacuated from violence-affected areas of Iraq have returned to India.

The government is in constant touch with the 46 nurses stranded in Tikrit town, which was also taken over by Sunni militants. Areas like Basra, Najaf and Kurdish-dominated areas are not witnessing violence.

Meanwhile, around 28 Indians working in a company in Najaf, which is not affected by violence, have also expressed their desire to return to India and government was helping them. A total of 1,000 Indians are working in the company.

Another lot of 49 Indian employees of a power sector company in Northern Iraq conveyed to Indian mission that they want to return to India and government was also in touch with the company.

The Indian mission is looking into issues like possible contractual disputes between Indians and their employers and sort out such disputes to ensure their return.

Last night, six persons from Punjab's Gurdaspur district who were stranded in Iraq, returned home safely.

With nearly 200 people from Punjab stranded in that country, the state government has decided to bear the expenses for bringing them back safely and also reimburse the expenses incurred by distressed families for making phone calls to Iraq, an official spokesman said in Chandigarh.

Amnesty International India claimed that some of the Indians stranded in Najaf province were "awaiting a response from the Indian Embassy in Baghdad" after they texted their passport details to them on June 19.

"The employer holds all our passports and refuses to return them. We have been restricting ourselves to the company premises since the conflict began as we are scared. We just want to go home," one of the workers reportedly told Amnesty International India.

The government was also in touch with various humanitarian agencies, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and Iraqi government to gather more information about its citizens.

Iraq is witnessing serious strife with Sunni militants, backed by al Qaeda, capturing two key cities and marching towards Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced in the fighting that broke out on June 10.

The government has also decided to provide financial assistance through Indian Community Welfare Fund to those Indians who are indigent and want to return to India.

India has also requested Iraq to lift restriction on the visa norm that if a person comes to the country through a port of entry then he will have to go back though the same port of entry.

The issue has been taken up with Iraqi authorities so that trapped Indians can cross Iraqi border to neighbouring countries through nearest land boundary.

Instructions have also been issued to Indian missions in countries around Iraq to take up the matter with their host governments to facilitate movement by those who wish to cross the land boundary from nearest place of their stay.