In background check, authorities find no trace of one among 25 on MEA’s missing list

External minister Sushma Swaraj. Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey

An exercise to collect DNA samples from relatives of men from Punjab believed to be missing in Iraq since June 2014 has failed to trace one among the 25 names on the list sent to the state government by the Centre.

Punjab has now sent DNA samples of as many as 24 persons. One Surjit Singh hails from Punjab, as per the list, but his other details like passport number, address, date of birth, parents names and photograph are not available.

The Amritsar administration unsuccessfully searched for Surjit Singh in Sialka village after MEA sent an email to Amritsar Deputy Commissioner on October 30 which said “..This is to acknowledge that this Ministry has received this morning, samples relating to 8 persons (from Amritsar district) as collected by Govt Medical College Amritsar, by hand through Punjab Police personnel (SI Gurmeet Singh). It has now been learnt that one more person – Shri Surjit Singh, of village Sialka, Tehsil Baba Bakala was also from Amritsar District (SL. No. 25 of list attached)…It is requested that near relatives of this person may traced from village Sialka and blood samples be collected by Amritsar district authorities. May please see for urgent appropriate action.”

Amritsar Assistant Commissioner (General) Vikas Hira now says that the administration did not find family of anyone by the name of Surjit Singh, who had been missing since the period when the men in Iraq went missing.

Ranjit Kaur, mother of one of the missing youth Jatinder Singh who hails from Sialka, said various officials, including policemen, asked about Surjit Singh. “There is no Surjit Singh from Sialka who is missing. A man by other name from the village works in Iraq and has been working in a different area well before the men were abducted. He is in the village these days to attend a family function,” said Ranjit Kaur.

Asked how the list was made, an MEA official said the list was created as the names came up during meetings with family members in the past. Asked on what basis MEA concluded that Surjit Singh hailed from Sialka village when Amritsar administration did not find the family of any such man in Sialka village, the official said, “It could have been a false call.”

Ministry of External Affairs is gathering DNA samples of the families of the 39 missing Indians who were believed to have been captured by Islamic State (IS) militants from Mosul. These samples, ministry sources said, would be sent to Iraq and Syria to be matched with people captured from fallen IS bastions such as Raqqa, as well as with bodies recovered during combing operations.

MEA official on Thursday said samples would be sent as soon as entire collection process was complete.
In addition to list of 25 from Punjab, MEA has sent two more names Govinda and Kehar Singh, whose passport number, state/s they belong to, date of birth, parent names and photographs are not available.