‘We believe he must be well, we can’t believe anything else’ Ranjit Singh, 23 Trained as a carpenter, was working at a construction site in Iraq Family: Mother Balwinder Kaur and married sister Jasbir Kaur, 32, at Manavala in Ajnala, Punjab Last conversation: “June 15 was the first time my brother told me he and others were in captivity,” Jasbir said. “But he said not to worry, they are going to send us to Erbil from here. We spoke for 10 or 15 minutes and after that I was never able to get through. We sold some land, borrowed from relatives to send him abroad. Now relatives stay away for fear that we may ask them for more money. My father was in the Army, so my mother gets pension. The Punjab government has been giving us Rs 20,000 as aid.” “There is no work here for Jat Sikhs. That is why our children have to look for menial jobs abroad,” said Balwinder Singh. “Three or four boys in the village who were in Iraq returned when the fighting broke out. Why couldn’t my son have come home like them? [related-post] Last contact with government: “We met Sushma Swaraj on February 7,” said Jasbir Kaur. “All Sushma Swaraj said was: ‘Keep courage, stay brave’. She keeps repeating this but she does not give us any evidence. We believe Ranjit must be well. We cannot believe anything else. We keep speaking to other families who are caught in a similar fate, to keep our morale up, and to find out if anyone has got any new information.” ‘The children used to pray for his return. not any more’ Gurcharan Singh, 30 Trained as a carpenter but may have done more general construction work in Iraq Family: Wife Harjit, nine-year-old daughter, six-year-old son in Jalal Usma, Amritsar Last conversation: “The last time my husband called home was June 15, 2014. I was sleeping, my in-laws spoke to him. He said his phone battery was low and would call again. My brother-in-law says he spoke to my husband on June 18. When my husband spoke to his parents on June 15, he said those who were holding them were giving them food and water. ‘I can hear bombs and there is a lot of fighting going on.’ He said if I survive this war, I will come back. It will be two years since he told us that. Earlier, the kids used to pray for their father’s safe return. Not any more. Last contact with government: “I never go to meet Sushma Swaraj because I have two kids. My father-in-law goes. The last time was in February this year. The government keeps telling us ‘Woh theek thaak hain’ but has given us no proof. When I see all the news about what IS is doing to people, my heart breaks. You can say I trust the government, but I don’t trust them either. If the boys are alive, let them get at least one of the boys to call back any one of us, so we can keep our hopes alive. If the government has no more hope, they should tell us straight. It’s better to die one day than die every day.” She dials his number in the hope that he will pick up one day Hemraj, 34 Driving job in Iraq Family: Wife Nirmala Devi, 28, children Dhruv, 7, and Ananya, 3, parents (mother ailing) at Boila village in Sundernagar of Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi Last conversation: On June 14, 2014, with his wife. “He gave a chilling account about how Islamic State has taken 39 Indian men hostage and seized their passports. But he told me they have been promised a safe return. We are still waiting for his arrival.” Last contact with government: Hemraj’s uncle Sher Singh met local MLA Sohan Lal, submitted applications to the Sundernagar DSP and Mandi MP Ram Swaroop for a monthly grant to Hemraj’s wife, as provided by the Punjab government. “We were told to bring the notification of the Punjab government, of which we managed a photocopy. But since it was in Gurmukhi, the officers did not consider it,” he said. “It’s my destiny and I can’t run away,” said Nirmala. “I have to take his place and bring up my kids. My heart says he is alive but in some difficulty, which is preventing him from returning. I can’t think of anything else but him. I will wait for him till my last breath.” She shows her call list, a string of efforts to contact Hemraj from time to time, all in the hope that he would pick up one day and show that he was alive. “Normally, the phone doesn’t connect. The other day, someone picked up but didn’t speak. I lost Rs 26 on this prepaid call. My son asks me questions: ‘Where is Papa? Why has he not come?’ My daughter is too young to understand.” The family was below the poverty line but after Hemraj moved to Iraq (foreign), the local panchayat deleted the family’s name from the BPL list. ‘We go just to remind Sushma we still exist’ Kanwaljeet Singh, 28 Worked as crane operator Family: Wife Harpreet, 23, two-year-old daughter Hargun (both now with Harpreet’s parents in Sangoana village); Kanwaljeet’s parents Mahinder Kaur, 65, and Harbhajan Singh, 67, at Roopowali in Gurdaspur, Punjab Last conversation: “On June 15, 2014, my son gave us a missed call, then we called him, and then he asked us to cut the line, and called back. He said the abductors were treating all the boys well. He was calling three times a day until June 15,” his mother said. Harpreet said the last call she got was at 8 am on June 15 to tell her he had been abducted. Last contact with government: “We met Sushma Swaraj in February,” said his mother. “We have met her 10 times. Each time we gather at Gurudwara Rakab Ganj in Delhi, all of us, and we go from there. We go just to remind her that we still exist. She says she has proof from eight different sources, but that they are not able to get directly in touch with the Indians.” Harpreet left the house last year. “She went to meet her parents, they did not send her back. They’re saying, let’s end the matter, get some closure,” Mahinder Kaur said. “But how can we do that until the government tells us something? The girl and her parents approached the Mahila Mandal in Amritsar and wanted to formally end all contact with us, and be given some money. But the Mahila Mandal told her that unless the government says something conclusive, they cannot entertain her appeal. They want a divorce. How can we give her a divorce? She has to get a divorce from our son.” At her parents’ home, Harpreet said, “Of the Rs 20,000 the Punjab government gives me, Kanwaljeet’s parents get half. My in-laws are telling my parents: give us our grandchild, you keep your daughter. If the government says they are alive, show me the proof. Harsmirat Badal talks about nanhishaan everyday. What about my daughter, she’s also a nanhishaan. The government should give women jobs, so we can have a source of income, or else how am I going to bring up my daughter?” Harpreet’s father is convinced. “The government knows the reality. They just trying to pass time, so that after five years, they can declare them dead. The government is not worried about the problems the families are undergoing. Even kings can’t keep their daughters at home.” Dead or alive? His wife debates with her father Kamaljit Singh, 30 Welding job in Iraq Family: Wife Harvinder Kaur, 30, six-year-old son Manpreet and four-year-old daughter Simarjit, living with Harvinder’s parents at Ghazipur in Jalandhar; Kamaljit’s parents at Chauni Kalan in Hoshiarpur, Punjab Last conversation: Harvinder Kaur last spoke to her husband on June 15. “He asked me to take care of myself and the children,” she said. Her father Bhajan Lal, who runs a dairy, believes that “99 per cent of the kidnapped youth are dead” and asked Harvinder to accept it. They said Rs 5,000 of the Rs 20,000 state government aid goes to Kamaljit’s mother. Last contact with government: Harvinder insists her husband is alive and cited repeated assurances by the government, asking how it could have lied to them in front of the world. Yet she said, “Don’t give any false hope but tell us the truth.” And what is the truth? “The government knows better,” she said. From the argument over whether he is dead or alive stems another — what she should do if he is indeed declared dead. Her father hints repeatedly that she should move on, but she would rather wait. What if tomorrow the government says the missing men are dead? She said she will live for her children. “If I could not get happiness from one marriage, who can guarantee that I would get happiness if I think of myself and move on?” Harvinder, who has passed class XII, earns a little with stitching work. When his phone rang rather than beeped, it brought brief hope Parminder Kumar, 34 Carpenter in Iraq Family: Father Jeet Ram (ex-serviceman), mother Krishna, wife Anju, a four-year-old son, younger brother Gurdeep at Jagatpur in Nawanshahr, Punjab Last conversation: On June 15, 2014. “My son told me that he had been kidnapped by terrorists along with 41 others,” said Krishna. “He told me to take care of his family. He has a four-and-a-half-year-old son who was born after Parminder had gone to Iraq in 2011, just six months after his marriage. He said their company would send them back home within a day or two , and we were very happy that they were returning home. But after that, no contact.” His wife and mother dial his number frequently. “Sometimes someone picks up but we do not understand the language,” the wife said. The mother added, “One day the ring sounded as if it was in India — it was not a long beep as happens when you call abroad — and I started hoping that perhaps he has come to India. But waiting is all that is left in our lives now.” Last contact with government: Jeet Ram wound up a business he had started because of his health and frequent trips to Delhi to meet the external affairs minister. “I paid nine or 10 visits to the minister and was told each time that they are fine,” he said. And Krishna said, “We believe the government but the long wait is killing us. I always look at the front door in the wish that he will come in and call me Mummy again.” ‘What if I remarry and he returns? Govt should tell us’ Nishan Singh, 31 Crane operator at a construction site Family: Wife Kulwinder, 28 (has moved to her parents’ home), parents Gurmej Singh and Surinder Kaur, brother Sarwan Singh, 30, at Sangoana in Ajnala, Punjab Last conversation: “I spoke to my brother on June 21, 2014,” Sarwan said. “Nishan told us, ‘They’ve taken us to some other place now, it looks like 40-45 km from Mosul. They are telling us they will send us back to India, their fight is not with us. They are not ill-treating us’.” Last contact with government: “We met Sushma Swaraj in February,” Sarwan added. “She said she had proof from several sources that the boys are alive. But they have not shown it to us. There is no option but to believe the government because we are unable to believe the worst has befallen a member of our family. Fifty-fifty chances lagtey hain. We want to meet Sushma again. We tell her all the time: if there is any bad news, just tell us. Or please give us proof that they are alive. The Punjab government is giving us Rs 20,000. Half goes to Nishan’s wife, half to my mother.” At her mother’s home, Kulwinder said, “I will wait for my husband until the government takes a decision. What if I remarry and he returns? So I will wait. If the government doesn’t want to make it public for some reason, they can tell us in person. But the truth should be shared with us." Married in 2009, she has no children. “Nishan was getting himself treated so that we could have a child. The treatment was expensive, which was why Nishan decided to go to Iraq and earn,” she said. ‘No follow-up in Bihar, no word after we took up request for aid’ Santosh Singh, 22 In Iraq since age 18, worked with a construction company Family: Parents Chandramohan Singh, 53, and Gudiya Devi, 48, brother Pappu (student) in an IAY house allotted to Santosh’s uncle Munna Singh at Sahsaraon in Siwan, Bihar; they had started to extend the house with money sent by Santosh Last conversation: “There has been no word from him since we last spoke on June 14, 2014,” said Gudiya Devi. Pappu added: “On June 16, 2014, we got a call from Iraq saying my brother had been killed. He did not give any details and disconnected. No one called from his office or the Indian embassy,” said brother Pappu. Last contact with govt: “We met Sushma Swaraj three months ago. It is the Punjabi community that takes care of our food, accommodation and travel. Every time, the minister gives the same assurance that those abducted will be freed. But there is no forward movement. The Bihar government does no follow-up,” Chandramohan said. The family showed a March 2015 letter by MEA secretary Anil Wadhwa to Bihar chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh requesting the government to consider aid to families similar to that being given by the Punjab government. “This is the only government correspondence marked to us in the last two years. We took it up with the chief secretary last December but have got no word from him.” Temple and astrology keep hopes ticking Aman Kumar, 29 Worked in construction firm Family: Parents Ramesh Chand (ex-serviceman) and Veena Devi, brother Raman at Pesu in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh Last conversation: On June 15, 2014. Aman told the family about having been taken hostage by Islamic State militants and taken to undisclosed locations, while being promised their return home. During earlier calls since June 10, he always sounded calm. “Aman sent us Rs 40,000 of his earnings in April 2014, two months before he was abducted, as his contribution to a function we organise each year. I have faith in this temple. I believe he will come back one day,” his mother said. The Kali temple stands on a well-tarred road connecting Yol camp to Gaggal airport in Kangra district. A few days ago, the family consulted an astrologer who has predicted possible good news in three months, lifting their hopes again. Last contact with government: The father says he wrote several letters to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and local MP Shanta Kumar but only his letter to President Pranab Mukherjee has even been acknowledged. “We went to minister Sudhir Sharma, Dharamsala MLA, and asked him to urge CM Virbhadra Singh to meet the Prime Minister or Sushma Swaraj. Look how Punjab’s government has taken up the matter with the Centre,” he said. “Sushma Swaraj is not able to say clearly if my son is dead or alive,” said Aman’s mother.
