Thursday, July 3, 2014

The Kerala girls....probably beyond help

"In zones of conflict, there's no freedom. As diplomats we are trained to see every difficulty as an opportunity. There's no free will in zones of conflict"
 
The Kerala nurses have been kidnapped and moved to Mosul, deep inside ISIS held territory (they were previously in Tikrit where the Shia and Sunni armies are at a stand-off). Of course miracles can always happen. But it is unlikely that the Caliphate is going to voluntarily surrender 46 Christian girls.


It is time for the Govt (Ministry of External Affairs-MEA) to think out of the box. Why not request the Hon. Salman Khurshid to lead an all-Sunni delegation to plead with al-Baghdadi (with Saudi patrons serving as intermediaries)?

The MEA should also consider requesting the Owaisi brothers from Hyderabad to plead with their fellow brothers in Iraq. Akbaruddin - “remove police for 15 mins, we will finish off 100 crore hindus” -  Owaisi has always been a vocal and consistent supporter of Christian sisters from Odisha (who were being tortured by Hindutva-vadis). We imagine that he would be just as eager to help out his Christian sisters from Kerala who are being imprisoned (and perhaps subjected to worse indignities) by Sunni thugs.

Finally, since this is a humanitarian endeavour (and thus beyond sectarian and national politics) we would request the (Indian American) Muslim organizations to help out. The Milli Gazaette article lists some of these high profile organizations (http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/01122001/26.htm):
....
Today four such organizations exist in US. They are: 1. Washington DC: The Association of Indian Muslims of America. 2. Chicago: Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims. 3. San Francisco: Indian Muslim Relief Committee. 4. Detroit: American Federation of Muslims from India. 

Through these organizations, Indian Muslims in US are trying to help their Qaum back home, by supporting programs for the improvement of education among the youth, provide financial relief in the event of natural disasters and anti-Muslim riots and do public relations work to draw attention to instances of injustice to their community in India. 

Alumni of the Aligarh Muslim University have established fairly successful Alumni Associations in Washington DC, New York, Chicago, San Francisco Atlanta and Detroit. Generally, every year in October, they organize annual get-togethers and Mushairas to celebrate the birth anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of the university.
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The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) rebels have forced 46 Indian nurses to move out from Tikrit to Mosul in Iraq.

"Indians have also been asked to leave Karbala, Najaf and Basra. Regarding the nurses in captivity, we have confirmed of people seeing them unharmed, but in captivity. A short while ago they were moved to another location. All of them are unharmed. 

The external affairs minister has been in consultation with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Our embassy continues to be in touch, even as they are moving to another location," MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said in New Delhi.

"In zones of conflict, there's no freedom. As diplomats we are trained to see every difficulty as an opportunity. There's no free will in zones of conflict," he said.

The Indian nurses have now been relocated to Mosul, which is under militants' control. All the 46 nurses who have been moved are from Kerala.

"Tickets have been given to 900 Indians to fly out of non-conflict zones in Iraq right now," he said.

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Link: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/more-trouble-for-indian-nurses-in-iraq/1/369700.html

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regards

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