Families of those killed in Iraq in Delhi. (Express File Photo: Renuka Puri)
THE REMAINS of 39 Indian workers killed by the ISIS in Mosul are being stored in a freezer at the Medico Legal Institute, Iraq’s forensic sciences department in Baghdad, and will be handed over to Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh when he travels to that country, an Iraqi official told The Indian Express over phone.
Singh is expected to travel to Iraq in the coming days to return with the remains of the Indian workers which were found in a mass grave in Mosul and identified through DNA matching. The dates for the minister’s travel have not yet been fixed. An official of the Ministry of External Affairs said it was unlikely to be this week, “may be next week, but nothing is fixed yet”.
On Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told the assembly that the bodies would be arriving next week.
For now, Singh will bring back 38 sets of remains. The DNA match in the 39th case is not yet conclusive, and may take a few more weeks, Iraqi officials associated with the process said.
“Unfortunately, the 39th person is yet to be fully identified. It will take some time before this process can be completed. His remains will be sent separately, when the process is completed,” said an Iraqi official.
The official said some “legal paperwork” pertaining to the international transfer of bodies from Iraq needs to be completed. Iraq’s procedures to hand over mortal remains for transfer outside the country are lengthy, including documentation such as travel papers of the deceased.
Also, the Al Shuhaada Foundation or Martyrs’ Foundation, the government agency that found the mass grave where the bodies were buried, has its own procedures for handing over remains.
An official in the Iraqi Justice Ministry said the two countries may have to sign a legal agreement for the transfer.
A week ago, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj informed Parliament that all 39 Indians abducted by ISIS in 2015 had been killed and their bodies recovered from a mass grave in Badoosh. The families of some of the dead met the minister in New Delhi on Monday, and were told that the bodies would be brought home at the earliest.