MoS External Affairs VK Singh to visit Badush in Iraq to trace 39 missing Indians

New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh is to travel to Badush near Mosul, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has sought the Iraq government's help in tracing the 39 Indians, abducted in June 2014 in Mosul, as also help in facilitating the visit of her deputy to Badush.

She also expressed India's support for the people and the government of Iraq in their ongoing war against terrorism and their efforts to uphold their country's sovereignty and preserve its territorial integrity, ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said on Thursday.

Briefing reporters on first official India visit by Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Baglay said that the two ministers discussed matters of mutual interest pertaining to bilateral, regional and international affairs.

"Swaraj reiterated Indian government's request for tracing the 39 Indians who were abducted in Mosul in June 2014 and for Iraq's continued assistance in this regard. The Iraqi Foreign Minister assured cooperation in all earnestness from the Iraqi side and informed her of the efforts being undertaken," the spokesperson said, as per PTI.

"The Iraqi Foreign Minister assured cooperation in all earnestness from the Iraqi side and informed the External Affairs Minister of the efforts being undertaken," the statement said.

The development comes as Sushma Swaraj told Parliament that she would not declare the 39 Indians as dead till she has concrete evidence to that effect.

"I repeat, I will not declare them (the missing Indians) dead until we have concrete evidence to that effect," she told Rajya Sabha.

The Minister said that she "never said in Parliament or outside that they are alive, as being claimed by some Congress MPs".

She said that according to the information that has been received, the group was caught at the Mosul airfield, and taken to a jail, after which they were put to construction work, and then farming, before being taken to Badush jail in 2016. But after that there has been no contact, as per IANS.

The Minister said that all the information was culled from different sources and there was no evidence to support any of the claims.

Following reports in the media that the Badush jail building had been demolished, the Minister was blamed for misleading the nation on the 39 Indians. 

Singh had visited Iraq earlier this month after Iraqi forces aided by an international coalition liberated Mosul on July 9 after 266 days of fierce battles, ending three years of IS rule.

Singh first went to Erbil and then on July 12 visited the Kurdih Pershmerga frontline in Mosul area to seek information about the missing Indians.

(With Agency inputs)