Sushma Swaraj: Cannot confirm death of 39 Indians without proof

     Written by : SMTV24x7 | Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 10:46 PM

Sushma Swaraj: Cannot confirm death of 39 Indians without proof

New Delhi, March 20: Facing a volley of questions on Tuesday after she confirmed in Parliament the death of 39 Indians who were reported missing in Iraq in 2014, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the government cannot confirm any person's death without concrete proof in hand and it was her duty to inform Parliament first about such an important piece of news rather than the victims' families.

Briefing media persons here, Sushma Swaraj said her government did not believe in declaring a person "missing, believed killed".

"I refused to close the files (of the 39 Indians) till we had concrete proof in hand (about their death)," she said.

The 39 Indian workers had gone missing in the Iraqi city of Mosul after it was overrun by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organisation in June 2014.

Twenty-seven of them hailed from Punjab, four from Himachal Pradesh, six from Bihar and two from West Bengal.