Amritsar: Kin of men killed in Iraq seek government job, compensation
On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj told the Parliament that all the 39 Indians, who went missing in Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, were killed by the dreaded militants of the so-called Islamic State (IS).
punjab Updated: Mar 21, 2018 21:08 IST
A day after minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj disclosed details about death of 39 Indian workers in Iraq, grieving families on Wednesday demanded one member from each victim family be given a government job on compassionate ground along with adequate compensation.
Families gathered at the residence of Manjinder Singh, one of the workers killed in Iraq’s Mosul, in Bhoewal village, 30 kms from Amritsar, on Wednesday. Manjinder’s sister Gurpinder Kaur has been fighting for the prisoners for a long time now. Till the filing of this report, kin of Nishan Singh, Harsimranjit Singh, Harish Kumar and Malkit Singh had gathered here to chalk out a course of action. Gurpinder said she was contacting other families as well.
On behalf of the families, she said, “First of all, the government must provide proof. We also want the government to tell the date of the killings”.
She said financial condition of all the families was bad and many youth who have been declared dead were the only bread winners in their family. “The government should do something for our future. They not only need compensation, but also a government job”.
She also handed over a memorandum of demands to Manish Gulati, newly-appointed chairperson of Punjab Mahila Commission, who met the families to express condolence.
No representative of the government has met the kin of the deceased yet.
Complaining about the attitude of the government, Sarwan Singh, younger brother of Nishan Singh, said it was painful that the government neither gave formal intimation of the deaths, nor did it tell them when the mortal remains would come to India.