NEW DELHI, 2 September 2004 — Relatives of Indian hostages freed in Iraq rejoiced yesterday and thanked the captors after an ordeal lasting about six weeks. “We thank the captors for sparing our boys,” said Harvinder Singh, elder brother of freed Indian trucker Sukhdev Singh, 26.
“Yesterday, our hearts sank when we heard news of the massacre of 12 Nepalese hostages in Iraq but today our hearts are singing with joy,” Singh told AFP by telephone from Makraun Kalan village in Punjab state.
Relatives of another Indian hostage, Antaryami, danced with joy in the tiny village of Dehlon and thanked the governments of India, Kuwait and the Kuwaiti transport firm which employed the truck drivers.
“We cannot express our happiness. We thank the captors for showing mercy to our sons. We also thank the governments and the company for doing what they have done. We thank God for his benevolence,” said Ram Dass, grand uncle of Antaryami.
“We are planning a grand reception for them,” he said.
The three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian, kidnapped by an Iraqi group called the Holders of the Black Banners on July 21, appeared on Dubai television yesterday following their release.
The Black Banners had said the Kuwaiti firm for which the seven truckers work must pull out of Iraq and had demanded “damages” for those killed by US soldiers in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.
The hostage-takers had on more than one occasion extended an execution deadline they had set for the seven captives amid negotiations. Antaryami was among six locals who went to Kuwait in late 2003, one of many poor Indians lured by high wages. He, Tilak Raj, from the adjoining village of Dharampur, and Singh of Makraun Kalan in Punjab were kidnapped while hauling cargo in Iraq.
