Iraq crisis: Indian nurses freed by ISIS militants, to reach Kochi tomorrow

[prayas]

http://zeenews.india.com/news/natio...militants-to-reach-kochi-tomorrow_944982.html

New Delhi: In a big relief for the BJP government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants on Friday released all 46 Indian nurses, who were confined in Iraq's Mosul city.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who met Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj this morning, confirmed the development saying that nurses held by the Sunni insurgents in Iraq will be taken to the Erbil airport from where they will be flown back to India and they will land at the Kochhi Airport around 7 am on Saturday.
These nurses are in the safe custody of Indian Consulate officials there, the Kerala Chief Minister added.
Report also said that a special flight will leave for Erbil airport from New Delhi's IGI airport at 5 pm today to bring back the stranded nurses.
Two officials from Central and Kerala government respectively will be on board the special flight leaving from the national capital.
The nurses who were forcibly moved by suspected Sunni militants from Tikrit reached the Iraqi city of Mosul Thursday night.
Meanwhile, one of the 46 nurses from Kerala spoke to her mother and said all of them were safe.
The government today formed a crisis management group to handle the situation. The group is headed by Sushma Swaraj and Intelligence Bureau, RAW and NSA chiefs are part of the group.
A total of 25 Indian officials are now deployed in four Iraqi cities - Baghdad, Najaf, Basra and Karbala - to oversee the rescue of stranded Indians.
MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin yesterday said that so far about 900 Indians had been provided air ticket to leave Iraq.
A total of 1,500 Indians were registered with Indian authorities to leave Iraq.
Some Indians working in Iraq had not decided whether they want to leave or not. "We are committed to helping every Indian national," the spokesman said.
The plight of Indians stranded and held captive in Iraq since the Sunni insurgents started seizing Iraqi territory has emerged as the first major crisis for the Narendra Modi government.

 

[Saeed]

Good news for their families and India. Knowing ISIS, thank god they were not hurt.

 

[prayas]

Kerala nurses given food by ISIS militants in Iraq: Chandy

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: The 46 nurses from Kerala, who were shifted from Iraq's Tikrit city to Mosul by Sunni insurgents, have been put up in a building and have been given food, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday.
The women nurses reached Mosul close to midnight, said Chandy, who is in Delhi and closely monitoring the situation alongwith the External Affairs Ministry.
Chandy told a news agency over phone that the nurses have been given food and they have been put up in a building.
"When they reached the building there was no power supply. But very soon it was restored and they are taking rest," said Chandy.
"The prime responsibility is to see that they make a safe return...," he added.
The Kerala Chief Minister assured that "we are making every efforts and for that all diplomatic channels are being used."
"Like yesterday (Thursday), am leaving shortly to meet ministers and officials and our only aim and objective is their safe return," said Chandy.
A person in the know of things told the news agency that one of the nurses had send an SMS to her husband that they were given beds.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/natio...-by-isis-militants-in-iraq-chandy_944955.html

 

[RexRex]

I thought it was going to be a hostage situation. For once we've seen some coordination between a BJP central govt and Congress state govt with little point scoring.Well done to Modi Sarkar !

 

[saeedhk]

Good to hear them being released unharmed.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Great news.

But can someone explain this to me.

What made ISIS release them with no conditions?

This looks like a fairy tale. I don't understand it.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

I thought it was going to be a hostage situation. For once we've seen some coordination between a BJP central govt and Congress state govt with little point scoring.Well done to Modi Sarkar !

To be honest, how does Modi government get credit for this? If the ISIS had not released them, then nothing would have been possible.

 

[imback]

Some indians posted in TOIlet - ISIS released Turkey and Bangladeshi nurses, because they are muslims

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

They've been held there since the ISIS takeover, this story was reported a month ago in the international press. There were obviously efforts being made behind the scenes for Indians to be evacuated by their govt, but I read somewhere that some Indian nurses were reluctant to leave Iraq for some reason. I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

They've been held there since the ISIS takeover, this story was reported a month ago in the international press. There were obviously efforts being made behind the scenes for Indians to be evacuated by their govt, but I read somewhere that some Indian nurses were reluctant to leave Iraq for some reason. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Yep I read it somewhere too.

 

[RWAC]

Did the government make a deal with them to not allow permission to Indian Shias to go to Iraq?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ambi]

Why only kerala nurses are freed, what happened to the workers from other states, I think the state government got the assistance of influential gulf based malayalis

 

[prayas]

@sensible-india-fan@ambi@rwac@imback
GOI form the crisis department headed by sushma as soon as report broke and they release it them unconditionally may be because currently they dont want clash with indian forces as indian forces aleready enter in iran

 

[Ambi]

Key Indian businessmen helped secure release of nurses

Contacts in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Gulf nations, and a couple of prominent Indian businessmen are believed to be among those who assisted the Indian government in ensuring safe release of 46 nurses who were stranded in the area controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

 

[RWAC]

@sensible-india-fan@ambi@rwac@imback
GOI form the crisis department headed by sushma as soon as report broke and they release it them unconditionally may be because currently they dont want clash with indian forces as indian forces aleready enter in iran

Are you saying ISIS released them to stall a clash with the Indian forces? Doubt so. They'd have even more motivation to fight a "kaafir" army.

They most likely did it for money. If it's one thing that makes these jihadis give up prisoners, it's money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jang]

Good news, I think Indians especially keralites are too "innocent" as a people, thats why even a group like ISIS let them go

 

[Lords]

Few things about all this.

First, all the nurses or most of the nurses were from kerala because kerala supplies nurses to entire India and all over the world. Nursing is pretty big in kerala along with teaching. so no surprises there.

Second, i dont think they were literally kidnapped, they were just under ISIS control. ISIS gets no advantage for hurting foreign females who are in the country for only taking care of people. If these nurses were in any kind of combact role then situation could have been different.

Third, they get no advantage by making enemies with India. Last thing they need is a big power as enemy. They release or let go of the nurses and only get positive press. Even hitler would not have killed them, they are not a party in ongoing struggle.

All is well that ends well.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

An External Ministry official said that they secured the release of Kerela nurses using backdoor channels (mostly likely referring to Gulf and Saudi connections). He even said it would not be safe to talk about it now.

So Modi government really did do something.

 

[GreenKnightRises]

Congrats to NaMo Government on Releasing the Indian Nurses from such a horrifying Terror group like a peace Of Cake #Legends

 

[UmarAkmals-fan]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...-bearded-boys-abductors/article1-1237169.aspx

the indian nurses were treated well by the ISIS ...read this guy

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

@sensible-india-fan@ambi@rwac@imback
GOI form the crisis department headed by sushma as soon as report broke and they release it them unconditionally may be because currently they dont want clash with indian forces as indian forces aleready enter in iran

I heard Modi was leading the Indian armed forces from the front lines like Aragon in Lord of the Rings.

 

[Yossarian]

An External Ministry official said that they secured the release of Kerela nurses using backdoor channels (mostly likely referring to Gulf and Saudi connections). He even said it would not be safe to talk about it now.

So Modi government really did do something.

Maybe the Pakistani's also helped? Majority of Pakistani's are Sunni's, would not be on the side of Iranians or Shia Iraqi's, and could also perhaps have links with the Sunni groups.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Maybe the Pakistani's also helped? Majority of Pakistani's are Sunni's, would not be on the side of Iranians or Shia Iraqi's, and could also perhaps have links with the Sunni groups.

Yeah Pakistanis would have Saudi links but the Government official specifically said they contacted Saudi and Gulf people, did some backdoor dealings, etc.

Not sure whether Pakistanis would have been involved in this scheme of things.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

@sensible-india-fan@ambi@rwac@imback
GOI form the crisis department headed by sushma as soon as report broke and they release it them unconditionally may be because currently they dont want clash with indian forces as indian forces aleready enter in iran

Huh?

What?

Backdoor dealings did the trick. ISIS doesn't give a damn about India.

 

[Yossarian]

Yeah Pakistanis would have Saudi links but the Government official specifically said they contacted Saudi and Gulf people, did some backdoor dealings, etc.

Not sure whether Pakistanis would have been involved in this scheme of things.

But if they were, in any way whatsoever, it could open the door for more cordial relations between the new Modi govt. and Pakistan?

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

But if they were, in any way whatsoever, it could open the door for more cordial relations between the new Modi govt. and Pakistan?

True.

 

[Varun]

Kudos to Air India and crew for braving obstacles and rescuing nurses from Iraq

A report in The Times of India details the courage of Air India and its crew in its recent mission last week to rescue Indian nurses held captive by terrorists in Iraq.

The rescue flight was assigned flight number AI161 and would be performed by a Boeing 777-200LR VT-ALF Jharkhand which was kept ready while diplomatic parleys were conducted. The airline also empanelled four of its most seasoned pilots Captains Pankaj Agarwal and Atul Chandra with S P Sinha and Adhar Puri as co-pilots for the mission. Two crew for the journey into Iraq and two for the return trip.

The 777-200LR designed for ultra-long haul flights of over 18 hours can carry over 181,000 litres of fuel, and the flight from Delhi to Erbil is only six hours. However, with Iraqi authorities waffling on re-fuelling facilities, Air India decided to carry fuel from India. But, with a maximum landing weight limitation of 223 tons, the airline was limited to the amount of fuel it could carry.

Catering and other support for the return trip was also done in India to prevent any last minute snags when departing from Erbil. Indian food was chosen to give the stranded nurses “home food” after days of captivity.

Despite preparations, the flight to Iraq was met with a series of hurdles. A few minutes outside Iraqi airspace, the flight was denied permission to enter. The flight was turned towards Kuwait. In the mean time, Air India officials briefed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and India’s foreign ministry. The dynamic PMO swung in to action and conducted its diplomatic parleys and the flight was allowed to land in Erbil. However, this manoeuvre cost precious fuel which made it impossible to return direct to Kochi as originally planned, and instead land in Mumbai for refuelling.

It was later learnt this denial of permission was due to internal ego clashes in Iraq between the Kurdish authorities who control Erbil and the non-Kurdish authorities at Baghdad who gave the permission for the flight.

After about an hour on the ground at Erbil, AI161 took off for Mumbai carrying the 46 nurses who ultimately returned to Kochi along with 73 stranded Indians who proceeded on to Hyderabad and another 56 to Delhi.

Share your words of encouragement for the brave crew and the airline via a comment.

http://www.bangaloreaviation.com/20...w-braving-obstacles-rescuing-nurses-iraq.html

Good to hear they're back. AI has 3 x 77Ls spare at the moment after selling 5 to Etihad so nice to hear they're being put to good use too.

 

[RexRex]

.
I wonder how the UPA would have handled this crisis with serial waffler MMS at the helm.


.

 

[sherlock89]

I hope good days also come for the innocent people of Iraq like these lucky nurses.Congrats to the NaMo govt.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

ISIS, surprisingly, treated these nurses very well.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/blog/i-...kerala-nurse-s-iraq-diary-564983?site=classic

 

[Gabbar Singh]

This group weren't so lucky.

Thirty-nine missing Indian workers, who were taken hostage by ISIL in the Iraqi city of Mosul, have been killed, India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday.

The minister told Rajya Sabha - the upper house of parliament - the government had received confirmation on Monday that the DNA of 38 bodies found in a mass grave had been definitively identified as matching the missing Indians.

The 39th body exhumed from the grave had only a 70 percent DNA match, the minister said.

The grave was found after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters were driven out of the Iraqi city.

"I have concrete proof that 39 Indians have been killed," Swaraj said about the Indians who were abducted by ISIL in 2014. "We wanted to give the families closure," she said.

The physical remains of the Indians will be repatriated by the government in a special aircraft, the minister told parliament.

One of the workers was able to escape ISIL custody, the minister said.

India's foreign ministry spokesperson had confirmed in June 2014 that 40 Indian workers of the Tariq Nur Al Huda company in Mosul were kidnapped when ISIL captured Mosul and large parts of Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared "total victory" over ISIL in July last year after nearly three years of war backed by the US-led coalition.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...stage-isil-mosul-dead-fm-180320073448018.html