Families of four youths from Himachal Pradesh killed by ISIS in Iraq to ex-gratia relief of Rs 4 lakh

Shimla, March 27: The ex-gratia relief of Rs four lakh each will be given to the families of four youths from Himachal Pradesh who were killed by ISIS in Iraq. This was said by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur in the State Assembly on Monday. 

 

In his statement in the state assembly, CM Jai Ram Thakur said that the four deceased youths from the state were identified as Aman Kumar, Sandeep Singh Rana, Inderjeet, residents of Kangra district and Hemraj of Mandi district.

During his Suo Motu statement, the Chief Minister said that the Indian government was in constant touch with their Iraqi authorities but later a large number of bodies were buried under a mountain in Badush city was found which was confirmed by Deep penetration radars. CM Jai Ram Thakur, in the end, said that the state government would make necessary arrangements to send the bodies of four Himachali youths to their respective villages.

On March 21, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj declared that 39 Indians, who were missing in Iraq's Mosul since 2014, are dead. ''Out of the 40, who were kidnapped, one person managed to escape, while others were confirmed dead after DNA samples of their relatives matched from the bodies exhumed from a mound, '' EAM Swaraj said in Rajya Sabha.

The United Nations also condoled the death of 39 Indian nationals held captives in Iraq by the Islamic State terrorist organization, saying the tragedy is yet another example of barbarism and cruelty by the notorious terror outfit.

However, in July 2017, Swaraj had firmly said in the Parliament that she would not declare the 39 Indians dead without concrete proof or evidence. "It is a sin to declare a person dead without concrete evidence. I will not do this sin," she said in a statement in the Lok Sabha in 2017.

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 and taken hostage by the ISIS fighters. India had asked Iraq for help in locating the missing Indians after Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul from the. General VK Singh also visited Iraq to find where about of 39 Indians.