UNA/NEW DELHI, 31 July 2004 — Irate residents of Una, home to two of the three hostages in Iraq, had threatened to attack government officials and torch government property if no action was taken for the safe release of the Indians.
Hundreds of men armed with iron rods blocked traffic in northern India yesterday in protest against New Delhi’s failure to win the release of three Indian hostages in Iraq, as a deadline set by the kidnappers drew near.
The villagers squatted on a state highway leading to the home of Antaryami, one of seven foreign truck drivers being held by militants in Iraq who had threatened to kill one of their captives by 1500 GMT yesterday. Later, the kidnappers extended the deadline by 24 hours.
But a spokeswoman for his employer, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, said the firm was sending an official to negotiate with the captors and understood that the deadline had been pushed back.
Groups of young men, armed with iron rods and bamboo sticks, roamed Una, a town of 12,000 people, enforcing a general strike to protest against the kidnappings.
“If anyone tries to come through this town, we will burn his vehicle,” said Tarsem Lal, a resident. Protesters also burned Foreign Minister Natwar Singh in effigy on the chaotic motorway. Two buses carrying about 35 foreign tourists returning from the northern hill town of Dharamsala to New Delhi were stuck in the traffic jam before police escorted them out of the district.
Businesses, schools and government offices in Una were closed. All roads leading to the town were blocked by burned tires; vehicles parked haphazardly and tree branches. Protesters also sat on railway tracks, disrupting train services.
The kidnappers in Iraq released a videotape showing a masked man pointing an automatic rifle at Antaryami, who looked frightened and was sweating.
“If something happens to him, we will burn government offices and the government will be responsible,” said his sister Harjinder Kaur at their home in Una.
The kidnappers have demanded that the Kuwaiti transport company the seven men worked for should stop doing business in Iraq or they will behead the men one by one.
Three Kenyans and an Egyptian, employed along with the Indians, are among the hostages of an Iraqi group that calls itself the “Black Flags”. It has not said who they would kill first.
Antaryami’s father urged the kidnappers to free his son, saying they were poor people. “I fold my hands and ask you to release my son, your demands have to do with the government and not with poor people like us,” Ram Murthi said.
In neighboring Punjab, home to hostage Sukhdev Singh, the 26-year-old’s weeping sister-in-law Karamjit appealed to his captors.
“Please pardon our parents as they’re too frail from shock to speak. But I beg you, my brothers, please release our boy.”
In a hospital in Una, Promilla Devi, wife of the third Indian hostage Tilak Raj, remained under sedation, doctors said.
India has no troops in Iraq, but hundreds of Indians have gone there to work — many as support staff, including chefs, kitchen assistants, accountants and bus drivers for the US military.
Indian government voiced its deep anxiety about the three and stressed none would return to Iraq if freed. The Foreign Ministry said a Iraqi mediator had appealed to the captors to extend the deadline and give an opportunity for further negotiations.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs E. Ahamed urged the kidnappers to set the Indians free, saying they were poor men who had gone to Kuwait to find jobs and were not working for occupation forces in Iraq. The government’s latest expression of anxiety came a day after Pakistan confirmed that two of its citizens working in Iraq were executed by their kidnappers.
— Additional input from agencies.
