Foreign Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj gave her statement in Lok Sabha on Wednesday regarding the 39 missing Indians in Iraq. She said that She did not have any proof that the missing Indians were dead and hence the government will continue searching for them.
Swaraj said that till she does not get proofs of the death of the missing Indians it will be a sin to assume them dead and she will not commit this sin. The Indians may be dead or they may be alive there is no substantial evidence to prove any of the possibilities.
Regarding her statement on Wednesday, Congress MLA Pratap Singh Bajwa accused Swaraj of misleading the nation. He said that Sushma said the missing Indians are alive and is giving false hopes by saying so. On Thursday after the Lok Sabha session began its question hour, Sushma sought permission to respond to questions raised by Bajwa and other members regarding 39 Indians missing in Mosul.
She said that she never claimed that the missing Indians were alive, she had just said that until she does not get proofs of their death, she will continue the search assuming them to be alive. “The House should tell me if I should stop the search or continue to trace them as six sources give an optimistic response,” she told. She further added that Bajwa had asked for an apology from her for misleading the nation, but instead of apologising she was firm on her saying that she will not declare them dead till she gets credible evidence and will continue to search.
Responding to the answers of Swaraj, Bajwa demanded that She should reveal her sources on whom she was relying for the evidence. On this Swaraj question former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that if sources can be revealed in such secret operations. Though she said that foreign minister and a Head of the State were her sources and she personally had spoken to Iraq and Turkey government.