‘Why were we kept in the dark?’

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 20

“It is sheer brutality,” said a sobbing Swaran Singh on Union Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's “sudden announcement” about the death of 39 Indians in Iraq's Mosul — 27 of them from Punjab, among them his brother Nishan Singh. 

“We had been waiting for the return of our boys for the last four years. The minister should have broken the news to us first. Why were we kept in the dark,” asked an anguished Swaran Singh, who belongs to Sangowal village near Nakodar. Refusing to accept that Indians kidnapped by IS had been killed, he reasoned: “We were earlier told that all Indians held hostage were safe. Later, the government said they could be languishing in a Badush jail. Both claims proved wrong. It is entirely possible that the fresh claim may be false too,” hinting at the possibility of the families filing a suit to seek a re-investigation. Amarjit Kaur of Kapurthala, in disbelief after receiving the heartwrenching news, declared she would not perform the last rites of her husband Gobinder Singh “until the government hands me a DNA-match report of tests conducted in India. One can't trust a foreign organisation.”

Ignorant of the tragedy, a bubbly Kanwaljit Kaur of Batala was sure her 25-year-old son Dharmendra Kumar would return home soon. “I have shortlisted a few girls. I can't wait to see him in a groom's attire,” she told The Tribune, breaking into laughter.

“Umeed jiundi e aje tak… aun taan sahi… vekhyo kiddan swagat karna mein (I haven’t given up hope. He will surely return, to a grand welcome),” said Manjit Kaur from Jalandhar's Rurka Kalan village. Little did she know she would never see her husband Davinder Singh again.