Punjab CM assures fulsome support and cooperation to distressed families of youth stuck in Iraq

Baba Bakala (Amritsar), August 10, 2014: Assuring fulsome support and cooperation to the distressed families of the youth stuck in strife torn Iraq, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that the state government was constantly in touch with the Government of India (GoI) to ensure safe and prompt release of the sons of the soil.

Interacting with a delegation of family members of such youth, who met him at the sidelines of the political conference here today, the Chief Minister said that he was personally keeping a close liaison with the Union Government and the officers of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 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. 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.

The Chief Minister further said that he had been regularly taking up the matter with the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who had informed him that the GoI was exploiting all the diplomatic channels for ensuring the early release of all the Punjabis trapped in Iraq. Likewise, he said that the Union government has assured him that it would make sure that every Indian returns back to his home safely irrespective of the fact that whether he possesses the relevant immigration documents or not. “Both the Centre and the state government are duty bound to bail out all the panic stricken families from the crisis and we are leaving no stone unturned for this cause” added Badal.

On the request of delegation regarding financial assistance to them, the Chief Minister also directed the Deputy Commissioner Amritsar to immediately release the pending assistance to these families. He assured the delegation that the state government was solidly behind them in this grave crisis. It may be recalled that Badal had announced to grant financial assistance of Rs.20,000 per month to the distressed families of 40 Punjabis stuck up in Mosul in order to bail them out from the financial stringency in these difficult times.

The delegation comprising of Gurcharan Singh, Harbhajan Kaur and Sukhwinder Kaur thanked the Chief Minister for initiating steps to bring back their family members back to their motherland.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by Lok Sabha MP Jathedar Ranjit Singh Brahampura, MLAs Bibi Jagir Kaur, Manjeet Singh Manna, Baljeet Singh Jalal Usma and his Special Principal Secretary Ajoy Sharma.