‘WE FEEL BETRAYED’

DHURI(SANGRUR):Family of 55-year-old Pritpal Sharma, the only person from Malwa among the 39 Indians abducted and killed in Iraq, said Indian government, especially foreign minister Sushma Swaraj lied for almost four years.

When Swaraj read out her statement in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday morning, Sharma’s 18-yearold daughter Diksha was away to college. She was in Class 7 when Sharma left for Iraq in 2011. “He spent ₹2.5 lakh to get a visa for Iraq. After his disappearance, we were called to Delhi many times. We had to spend a lot on travel but we didn’t mind, for officials assured us that he was alive and would return soon. Swaraj lied, betrayed and misguided all of us,” cried Sharma’s widow Raj Rani, 53.

Sharma, who worked as a labourer, had been sending money to the family till 2014, when he was abducted by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). He was locked in a factory building from where he made the last call to his family members on June 15, 2014.

“I left my school due to unfavorable circumstances. However, I tried to focus on my sister’ education. Now we are under a debt of ₹1.5 lakh. We hope the government will provide us some financial support,” said Neeraj, who does odd jobs to make ends meet.

AVTAR SINGH