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Hostage crisis : Govt. refuses direct deal with abductors |
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While the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company [KGL], employer of the three Indian hostages held by a militant group in Iraq, is trying to find a new negotiator after it dropped the tribal leader, al-Dulaimi, accusing him of playing tricks, the Government of India has made its stand clear - it will neither deal with the hostage-takers directly nor will it pay any ransom for their release. This is also the stand taken by Kenya and Egypt, whose nationals are also held hostage by the so-called Holders of the Black Banners for the last one month.
The Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahmed, who is also heading the Crisis Management Board in the Foreign office told the Rajya Sabha on August 19 that the Government would under no circumstances hold direct negotiations with the kidnappers of the three Indian truckers in Iraq. Ahmed told members that “no ransom would be paid. The honour of the country would be kept intact.” Instead, he said, assistance would be given to KGL, employer of the hostages. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, intervened in reply to a series of questions on the hostage crisis, to assure the House that every effort is being made to get them released.
The KGL has also assured some relatives of one of the hostages who have gone on a hunger-strike that everything will be done to get their men back safe and sound. The KGL is trying to find a new negotiator after they dropped Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaimi whose efforts did not yield any results. “The Sheikh was a fraud and a fake”, sources said. The KGL says it has found a new channel of communications with the hostage-takers but gave no details.
In the last fortnight at least, no direct statements have come from the hostage-takers. On July 21, the hostage-takers had come out with a direct statement putting forward their demands. They had set a deadline to execute one of the hostages and even extended it a couple of times, but there has been no news of any fresh deadline being set. Meanwhile, 12 Nepalese men are said to have been taken hostage in Iraq by a so-far unknown group. No demands for their release have been made.
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