NewDelhi, March, 20 ÷ Issuing a statement in Rajya Sabha today, External Affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, confirmed that all the 39 Indian construction workers abducted by ISIS in June 2014 were dead. The Indian construction workers were mostly from Punjab. They were kidnapped in Mosul, Iraq.
She added that deep penetration radar confirmed that all Indians were dead after all bodies were exhumed. As a mark of respect, Rajya Sabha also observed two minutes of silence for the deceased persons.
Till June last year, the government maintained that the abducted Indians were alive and everything possible was being done to ensure their safe return to India. She had also stated last year that there was no evidence to state that they were killed by the ISIS, adding that she would not commit the sin of declaring them dead.
She also confirmed that General VK Singh will go to Iraq and bring back the mortal remains of Indians killed in Iraq.
The plane carrying mortal remains will first go to Amritsar, then to Patna and then to Kolkata.
During the initial years of abduction, it was believed that the missing Indians were probably kept in a jail in Badush where the fighting was still going on…….