Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that he would again meet the Union Minister for External Affairs (MEA) Mrs. Sushma Swaraj soon, to impress upon her for expediting the process of bringing back 39 Punjabis trapped in the Mosul region of the war torn Iraq. An assurance to this regard was given by the Chief Minister to a delegation of the family members of these Punjabis, who called on him under the leadership of Revenue, Information and Public Relations Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia, this afternoon at Punjab Bhawan.The Chief Minister said that he was personally keeping a close liaison with the Union Government, officers of MEA and the special envoy of India to Iraq Mr. Suresh Reddy to ensure safe and prompt return of every Punjabi stuck up in strife torn Iraq. Expressing satisfaction over the efforts made by the Union Government in this regard, he exhorted the distressed families to have faith on the Government of India (GoI), which was not leaving any stone unturned for safely evacuating every single Indian from Iraq. Mr. Badal also assured them that on its part the state government was making strenuous efforts to expedite the process for release of next of their kin, who were trapped in Iraqi civil war.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister also spoke to Special Envoy of Indian Government to Iraq Mr. Suresh Reddy over phone, to have the latest update over this issue. Mr. Reddy informed the Chief Minister that all these 39 Punjabis were safe and the GoI was exploiting all the diplomatic channels for ensuring their early release. The Special envoy also apprised Mr. Badal that they were also in touch with the owner of the factory where these workers were employed, so that they could be evacuated at the earliest. Meanwhile on the pursuance of the Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy also had telephonic conversation with a family member of these Punjabis and assured her that the GoI was making all out efforts to ensure the safe release of their family members. Interacting with distressed families, Cabinet Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia lauded the Chief Minister for making concerted efforts to bail out these panic stricken families from the crisis. He said that probably these families were only across the country to have one to one dialogue with the Union External Affairs Minister Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, several times adding that the credit for it goes to campaign launched by Mr. Badal for the safe release of every Punjabi. Mr. Majithia further assured fulsome support and cooperation from the Punjab government to them.
The delegation comprising of Hardeep Singh, Balkar Singh, Tarsem Singh, Shira, Sardara Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Gurmej Singh, Satpal Singh, Baljinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Balwinder Singh, Raj Kumar, Balwinder Kaur, Ronki Ram, Prem Singh, Mukhtar Singh, Jagdish Kumar, Gurdev Lal, Jeet Ram, Hans Ram and Kewal Singh also thanked the Chief Minister and Mr. Majitia for initiating steps to bring back their family members back to their motherland. Prominent amongst those present in the meeting included Cabinet Minister Mr. Madan Mohan Mittal, former Union Minister Mr. Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. KJS Cheema and Prof. Sarchand Singh.