While India managed some deft diplomacy in evacuating the 46 Indian nurses who were stranded in Tikrit, the 41 Indian workers who were abducted in Mosul in Iraq two months ago continue to remain in the captivity of Sunni Islamic jihadists.
The minister has been following up with officials in Iraq and other diplomatic sources on ways to get the Indians freed even during her foreign sojourns.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the subject Aug 4, the minister said: "As far as the 41 people are concerned I would like to say here with responsibility that they are alive and safe. We should not believe in rumours. I have met their families. ..Secrecy is the fundamental principle of any such process. We talked to all foreign ministers, all ambassadors from the Gulf and our ambassadors in the Gulf. We also talked with the countries that can be helpful. I am waiting like a mother, who waits for her child, have knocked every door from where we can get help."
