CAPT AMARINDER TWEETS TO SUSHMA SWARAJ SEEKING HELP FOR NAWANSHAHR MOTHER-DAUGHTER DUO IN SAUDI ARABIA

INDIAN EMBASSY SAYS IT’S ACTIVELY WORKING ON THE CASE, RESPONDS UNION MINISTER
Chandigarh, October 30, 2017: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has sought External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s urgent intervention to help a mother-daughter duo reported to be in deep trouble in Saudi Arabia.

In a tweet to the minister, Captain Amarinder said, "This Mother-daughter duo from Nawanshahr are in trouble in Saudi Arabia. Request your urgent help."

Responding to the tweet, Sushma flagged the issue to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, which replied to the union minister saying that it was “actively working on it.” The Chief Minister thanked Sushma and said he looked forward to early return of the two women to their native village.

Captain Amarinder’s tweet came in response to a media report referring to a video put up on social media by Gurbaksh Kaur of Nawanshahr, saying that she and her daughter, Reena, had been sent by their travel agent to Saudi Arabia for work and were now facing extreme difficulties and needed help.

While she herself had been sacked from her job, Reena had been framed in a false case and handed over to the police, who were not divulging any information on her whereabouts, Gurbaksh is reported to have said in the video, appealing to Sushma Swaraj for help in securing their safe return home.

According to the media report, the couple had planned to go to Malaysia but the travel agent whom they had approached had fraudulently sent them to Saudi Arabia and were now demanding more money to bring them back. A police case has been registered on the complaint of Gurbaksh’s husband, Gurmel.

Expressing concern over the incident, which follows a spare of other similar cases involving unscrupulous travel agents, the Chief Minister has directed district authorities across the state to crack down on such agents to check the incidence of such cases. He has also warned of stringent action against police personnel refusing to file a complaint in any such case. Though the family of Gurbaksh had complained against the travel agents responsible for duping them about 10 days ago, the police filed the case only yesterday after the video went viral.