DEHLAN, Himachal Pradesh, 25 July 2004 — Protests broke out yesterday in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh — home to two of three Indian truckers taken hostage by militants in Iraq — as demonstrators agitated against New Delhi’s alleged lack of action to secure their release.
The protesters were also infuriated by Foreign Minister Natwar Singh’s statement on Friday when he said he didn’t want to give “false hopes” about the fate of the three men.
The Indian hostages, along with three Kenyans and an Egyptian, are being held by an Iraqi group calling itself The Holders of the Black Flags.
The militants have been demanding the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport firm for which the men worked wind up its operations in Iraq or they would behead the men one by one after a deadline expiring at 1600 GMT Saturday.
In Dehlan village, home of hostage Antaryami, there was little cheer as officials announced the militants had extended their deadline by another 48 hours.
On Friday, the group made another demand seeking “payment of damages to families of victims of Fallujah and the release of Iraqi detainees from American and Kuwaiti prisons.”
In Dehlan hundreds of college students came out on the streets to press New Delhi to secure Antaryami’s safe release.
But his wife stayed at home and prayed.
“I don’t believe in protests. I am appealing to this group, to the Iraqis and to the Indian government to return my husband,” said Kusum Lata in Dehlan, some 430 km north of New Delhi.
“I want nothing. Keep his money. Just send him back alive,” the 26-year-old housewife and mother of a one-year-old girl said.
“My husband is a decent man. He didn’t go to Iraq looking for riches. He just wanted to see foreign countries. What has he done to you? I beg you, send him home,” she pleaded.
Antaryami was among six locals who were sent to Kuwait by a placement firm on Nov. 22, 2003. He and Tilak Raj from the neighboring village of Harauli were kidnapped while hauling cargo in Iraq.
Shaking with anger, Antaryami’s uncle Ram Dass spoke sharply to Indian Deputy Foreign Minister E. Ahamed when the official telephoned from New Delhi to speak to the family in this stunned village.
“The whole village is in shock. His mother is in a semi-coma state and his wife has not eaten a morsel for the past three days. One of our relatives has also died of shock and we are preparing for his cremation,” Dass told Ahamed.
“You are the minister. It is your responsibility to save our child. Antaryami is the only male child left as his elder brother died three years ago. We cannot bear another shock,” Dass told the minister.
Antaryami’s father Ram Murthi also met Foreign Minister Natwar in New Delhi.
On Friday Natwar said he did not “want to give any false hopes” to the families of the hostages. “It is a serious situation and has to be dealt with in a sensitive manner,” Natwar told reporters.
The statement infuriated residents of Dehlan who blocked a key highway for hours.
“Natwar Singh die, die!” they shouted but village elders later sent the protesters home. Ranjit Singh, who was a classmate of 32-year-old Antaryami said such statements were wrong.
“Look at the other governments who moved heaven and earth to secure release of their citizens abducted in Iraq and look at our government,” he said.
In New Delhi yesterday, Natwar said he was hopeful the captives would be freed soon.
“The information we have is that hopefully the crisis would be resolved,” Natwar said. “We are working behind the scenes and we are hopeful that the crisis would be resolved peacefully,” he said.
The minister was speaking after attending a meeting of the government’s highest strategic decision making body called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Bombay-based firm which recruited the three Indians said it was shocked to learn about the kidnapping as the workers had been destined for jobs in Kuwait and not Iraq.
The government has banned Indians from being recruited for the war-torn country.
“We had not recruited them for Iraq. They were recruited for Kuwait for the Kuwait Gulf Link company,” Amir Muscatwalla, the proprietor of Oman Agencies Travel and Recruiting Agents, said.
