Making A Difference

Freedom At Last

A decisive Indian side worked every possible vein to secure the hostages' release <a href=pti_coverage.asp?gid=25 target=_blank> Updates</a>

Advertisement

Freedom At Last
info_icon
Bahut bahut mubarak ho...shukriya, shukriya, aapke wajah se
info_icon


Bodies of Nepali victims

Then, on August 6, an Egyptian diplomat, Mohammed Mamdouh Helmi Qutb, was kidnapped from a Baghdad mosque. It prompted Sheikh Dari, who doesn't appear on television, to ask his spokesperson, Bashar al Faisi, to issue a statement declaring that kidnapping was un-Islamic. The statement asked kidnappers to release all hostages, including the three Indians, and pleaded that India's interest shouldn't be harmed as it is a trusted friend of the Arabs. New Delhi, by then, had decided to bolster the Indian team in Baghdad— moving in Indian Ambassador to Oman, Talmeez Ahmed, who has extensive contacts in Iraq, Zikrur Rehman, an Arabic expert in the MEA, and a security official who had served previously in Turkey.

But till now, no contact had been established with the kidnappers themselves. It was then that tribal leader Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaimi inveigled himself into the matrix, claiming the kidnappers had asked him to negotiate on their behalf. KGL was persuaded to contact Dulaimi, whose claims and credibility were difficult to vouch for. Negotiations between the two was prolonged; a broad understanding was reached. KGL even sent a plane to Baghdad to ferry back the hostages. Finally, at the Baghdad airport, Dulaimi and the KGL representative met. He then sprang a surprise, demanded more money as compensation to those families whose members had been killed or injured in the US bombing of the restive town of Falluja. Worse, he confessed that the Black Banners hadn't appointed him as their negotiator. In other words, KGL had all along been talking to an interloper.

The Indian team in Baghdad then initiated the process of identifying a credible interlocutor, simultaneously convincing a frustrated KGL to stay the course. Sources say the Egyptian charge d'affaires in Baghdad and their ambassador in Kuwait did the spadework: they identified two imams in Falluja who had access to the captors. A series of meetings were held between them and KGL; some of these conducted on the premises of the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad. (No wonder that the hostages, on their release, were first brought to the Egyptian embassy.)

So what persuaded the Black Banners to release the hostages? Was KGL's undertaking to cease all operations in Iraq the only reason? Or was ransom money paid? Top sources in South Block insist that "not one paise" was paid by India to the kidnappers. Such a statement obviously doesn't preclude the possibility of KGL paying ransom to secure the release of the Indian hostages.

At the time of writing this report, Antaryami, Sukhdev Singh and Tilak Raj were on the plane back to India. And though the government is relieved at their release, the CMG members have their fingers crossed. With 5,000 Indians still working in Iraq, they can only hope they aren't tormented again by yet another kidnapping drama there.

Advertisement

Tags

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement