It is a matter of considerable relief that the 46 Indian nurses — all from Kerala — trapped in Iraq are expected to arrive in Kochi today. Since they were in the northern part of that country, which has been overrun by the extremist Sunni group ISIS, now just known as “The Caliphate”, it was assumed that the hospital employees were in the custody of these insurgents. However, little is known by way of facts.
First the nurses were said to be holed up in the town of Tikrit, and were transferred on Thursday, presumably under ISIS orders, to Mosul. These are parts of the country which have been wrested from the Iraq government by the militants. But in less than 24 hours after their presumed arrival in ISIS-controlled Mosul, the news flash came that they had been freed and were being escorted to Erbil, still further up north and now firmly held Kurdish territory.
Indian diplomacy has pulled off an important rescue act in challenging circumstances if the captors were indeed representatives of the ISIS, for that outfit is said to be not favourably disposed towards India.
Sketchy news accounts also hint at Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy being associated with rescue operation. Details of the effort involved shall probably remain unknown. What’s clear is that the government of Iraq, which India supports, was in no position to influence the course of events in any way.
In Afghanistan and in northwest Pakistan, where the Taliban militancy — also Sunni Islamists like the ISIS — has resorted to hostage-taking, the culmination has frequently been violent, or involved ransom-taking or prisoner swaps. The last NDA regime under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had gone for an exchange of prisoners to free passengers of the Indian plane hijacked to Kandahar.
In the nurses’ case, the good offices of a Gulf state may have been used. What India may have promised those who helped our cause is unknown for now. We may only hope that it is not something that will limit our negotiating autonomy in the political or economic field at a future date. The release of the nurses also raises hopes of the safe release of 39 Indian workers in Iraq also reportedly in ISIS custody.
There is no question that the Indian mission in Baghdad is working in extremely difficult circumstances. Nevertheless, it does appear that there has been a gap in the area of political anticipation, including at the headquarters level in New Delhi.
While we laid out aircraft and naval vessels to evacuate those in the safe areas of Iraq, our compatriots living in the difficult north were not sufficiently warned against staying and persuaded to quit, given the dangerous political and military situation that was developing. This should have been a priority, including dealing with their employers.
