NEW DELHI, 4 September 2004 — Three Indian truck drivers freed after six weeks in captivity in Iraq were greeted by cheering crowds and tearful relatives at their villages.
They said on arrival that they had been well treated by their captors but had longed to return.
Earlier, they were welcomed with marigold garlands and hugs as they emerged from the airport in Delhi.
Festivities began soon after dawn in Dehlan, a northern Indian hamlet, which is home to freed captive Antaryami, when excited relatives saw television footage of the three truckers stepping off a plane from Kuwait at New Delhi’s airport.
To the beating of drums, women danced joyfully through the narrow lanes of Dehlan, some 430 km from the capital in the state of Himachal Pradesh.
“I feel like I’m being re-married to my husband,” said Antaryami’s wife Kusum Lata as she joined in the dancing.
Antaryami, who uses only one name, Tilak Raj and Sukhdev Singh were kidnapped July 21 along with an Egyptian and three Kenyan colleagues by an Iraqi group called the Holders of the Black Banners.
They were freed mid-week by their captors after their Kuwaiti employers, transport firm KGL, reportedly paid a ransom of half-a-million dollars. The three truckers said they had been well-treated by their kidnappers but were relieved to be home and had no desire to go back to the Middle East, where millions of Indians work.
“I never knew the winds of India smelt so sweet,” ex-hostage Sukhdev said as he returned home.
Antaryami said the captors “behaved very well with us”.
“At one time, when they took our pictures, we felt it was the end. We could not understand their language. We would pray with them five times a day,” Antaryami said.
“They never beat us. They used to sit around watching TV.”
Raj said they had not voluntarily gone into Iraq.
“We had borrowed 80,000 rupees ($1,740) before leaving. If we had refused, the company would have sent us back. How would we have survived then?
“We will never go back again to the Gulf. We will request the government to give us employment so that we never have to go out of the country again.”
Antaryami and Raj, who hails from Dharampur village adjoining Dehlan in Una district, rode home with relatives and friends in a festooned truck, as villagers shouted slogans praising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for securing their freedom.
The ex-hostages waved at thousands lining the streets as a 20-piece band announced their arrival.
“They are the children of Una and the entire district wants to welcome their returning sons,” chief administrator Rajneesh Kumar said.
Women showered the men with rose petals chanting: “Our sons have returned.”
The third hostage, Sukhdev, reached home earlier yesterday to ear-splitting drumbeats in Makraun Kalan, 300 km from New Delhi, in Punjab state.
Sukhdev’s sister-in-law Karamjit Kaur hummed happily as the family prepared a dinner for 300 people. “We will do what is possible to make him happy,” Karamjit said.
“We are getting drummers who will serenade our boy home once he reaches the highway to our village,” she added.
— Additional input from AFP.
