Counting hours, Govt appeals: ‘They are not with occupiers’

The fresh appeal, routed via the Indian embassy in Baghdad to Iraqi tribal leader Hisham Al Dulaimi who has been negotiating with the hostage-takers, followed a late night meeting of the Crisis Management Group in New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the captors threatened to behead an Indian hostage unless his Kuwaiti firm quit the country. The three Indians — Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukhdev Singh — had been taken hostage with an Egyptian and three Kenyans on August 21. A statement from the ‘Islamic Secret Army’, received by AFP today, said: ‘‘We will slit the throat of one of the (Indian) hostages tomorrow at 7 pm if our demands are not met.’’

The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified. But the group accused the Indian government of losing its ‘‘credibility’’ and ‘‘deviating from (Mahatma) Gandhi’s path of peace,’’ branding the hostages ‘‘fighters supporting the infidel occupation.’’

It justified its chilling threat because the ‘‘relevant parties, particularly the Kuwaiti firm, which said it is ready to negotiate, have ignored Sheikh Hisham Al Dulaimi’s humanitarian appeal to release the hostages.’’

After the CMG meeting, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement: ‘‘In its latest appeal the Embassy has reiterated that the three Indians are poor people who went to Kuwait seeking employment, and were not working for occupation forces in Iraq. We have called for the early release of the hostages so that they could rejoin their families in India. We have also clarified that they would not return to Iraq.’’

The CMG meeting, chaired by Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, was attended by Foreign Secretary and other senior officials. Numerous phone calls were made during the meeting. It’s learnt that KGL, the company for which the three Indians worked, has also reiterated its willingness to comply with demands of the group which includes shutting down operations in Iraq.

Ahamed even spoke to the father of one of the hostages over the phone from South Block, assuring him that all efforts were being made to secure the release of the hostages.

Earlier, reports from Baghdad created panic after the group released a video footage showing an Indian — identified as Antaryami by his family in Una — in an orange jumpsuit with a gun pointed to his head.

While information on the renewed threat was still being assessed, news that two abducted Pakistanis had been killed in Iraq was enough for the Government to send out a travel advisory asking Indian citizens not to travel to Iraq.

‘‘In view of the seriousness of the current security situation in Iraq, Government of India advises its citizens to defer visits to that country for the time being,’’ was the two-line statement from the Ministry of External Affairs.

The CMG, prior to issuing this advisory, had examined a host of emergency measures that it could initiate, including the possiblity of evacuating Indians from the area in case the situation deteriorates.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has a contingency plan for such an evacuation. This would require Indians to travel overland from Iraq to either Kuwait or Jordan from where there could board special Air India and Indian Airlines flights.

South Block officials also pointed out that Ahamed in his earlier appeals had made it clear that India is a friendly country and that it would not be sending any troops to Iraq. —

(with agency reports)