Minister Sushma Swaraj refuses to declare Indians missing in Iraq as dead without proof
"Declaring anyone dead without proof is a sin and I won't commit a sin," she said when several members alleged that she is refraining from telling the truth, media reported.
The group of Indian labourers, mostly from Punjab, was taken hostage by ISIS when it overran Iraq's second largest city Mosul in 2014. The workers were trying to leave Mosul when they were intercepted, reported NDTV.
The media also quoted her as saying, "People who are convinced that they are dead and I am lying, they are free to tell their families that they are dead. But if anyone turns up alive, then it is their responsibility."
According to media reports, Iraq was also not absolutely sure whether the Indians, who were kidnapped by ISIS in Mosul three years ago, are alive or dead.
"We don't know whether they are dead or alive. We are equally concerned. We're not sure hundred per cent they're alive or not, we don't know, we are going to do our best," Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari told reporters in Delhi on Monday.
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