External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj should have informed the aggrieved families about the death of the 39 Indians by the Islamic State in Iraq before “exploding the bomb on us” in Parliament.
This was the emotional outburst of one of Swaran Singh, whose kin was among the 39 kidnapped and massacred by the Islamic State in Iraq’s Mosul in 2014.
“This is nothing less than brutality to the families who were waiting for the safe return of their boys. The minister should have called us before exploding the bomb on us,” Singh told reporters.
Singh said the government earlier trusted on unreliable sources and maintained that they were safe and were held hostage at an undisclosed place.
“Later, through another unreliable resource, the government said they were held hostage in a mosque. But again it was proved wrong,” he added.
“It is very much possible that the claim made by them now is also wrong,” he said. “The families may file a case against the Central government for keeping them in dark.”
Official sources said 27 of those killed belonged to Punjab while four from neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
Kanwaljit Kaur, the mother of Dharmendra Kumar of Batala village in Gurdaspur district, said: “I have not lost hope. I have shortlisted a few girls for him and anxiously waiting to see him as a bridegroom.”
Meanwhile, the family of one of the victims Aman, belonging to Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, confirmed that they had received a call from the Ministry of External Affairs in the morning.
The family said the DNA samples were taken a few days back.