Iraq crisis: Hostage crisis may stretch for months

New Delhi: Sunni Muslim leaders are believed to have responded positively to Union home minister Mr Rajnath Singh when he sought their to resolve the Iraq crisis. Some Sunni leaders even went to the extent of saying that they were willing to go all the way to Iraq to appeal to ISIL militants to release the hostages.

“Now that we are fairly certain about the identity of the kidnappers, who are hardcore Sunni militants, it made sense to involve their religious leaders here also. Our local Sunni leaders have assured that they will issue public statements to release the kidnapped Indians on humanitarian grounds as they have nothing to do with the ongoing conflict in Iraq,” a senior government official said.

The Indian security agencies have so far not established direct contact with the kidnappers, though India’s special envoy in Baghdad Suresh Reddy was trying to establish links with some Sunni tribal leaders active in parts of northern Iraq. Mr Reddy was already in touch with Iraqi authorities and some senior officers who were part of former dictator Saddam Hussein’s army.

But beyond this, sources said, there was no movement forward except that a fresh report suggested that all the Indian hostages were safe. The government, on its part, sources said, seems aware that the hostage drama could well continue for the next several days and was preparing for a long haul.

Meanwhile, security and intelligence agencies here have established contact with some of the Indians who have arrived from Iraq to get some more information about the prevailing security situation in that country.