New Delhi: Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who is on a visit to India from July 24-28, said on Monday that he was not sure if the 39 Indians missing in Mosul since 2014 were still alive.
"I am not 100 percent sure if the 39 Indians missing in Mosul are alive," al-Jaafari told the media.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister, however, assured that all efforts are being made to trace the missing Indian labourers.
"We are trying our best (to trace them)," he added. Most of the 39 Indians who went missing in 2014 are from Punjab.
His comments came days after Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh visited Iraq after Iraqi forces aided by an international coalition liberated Mosul from the IS on July 9.
EAM Swaraj had earlier met with the visiting Iraqi leader in the national capital this morning.
The two leaders had reportedly discussed the issue of 39 Indians kidnapped by ISIS three years ago from Mosul city, along with several other key areas of mutual interests.
His visit came just two weeks after Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the liberation of country’s second largest city, Mosul, from ISIS.
Swaraj, who met with the relatives of the missing Indians last week, had said that the missing Indians might be imprisoned in Badush region of northwest Mosul, where the fighting between ISIS and Iraqi forces is still going on.
Sushma told the family members that an Iraqi official quoting intelligence sources had informed Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh that the missing Indian citizens were deployed at a hospital, from where they were later shifted to a farm, before they were put in Badush jail.
However, a media report from the region on July 22 claimed that the jail was abandoned several weeks ago.
The Union Minister also told family members that Al-Jafari might shed some light on the possible whereabouts of the kidnapped Indian citizens.
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal MP Chandu Majra sought answers from the government on the issue in Parliament today.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the MP said that most of the missing citizens are from Punjab and “the truth must be let out”.
