“The ministry of external affairs no longer entertains our calls; they do not respond to our text messages; nobody in New Delhi is ready to meet us either,” complained several family members of the 38 Indians held hostage by the Islamic State. They had gone missing in June 2014 and the government had then claimed that efforts were on to secure their release. As recently as last October, the MEA had informed the families that President Pranab Mukherjee, on a state visit to Israel and Palestine, had been told by Palestinian officials that they had information that the Indian hostages taken by ISIS were safe.