Congress accuses govt of misleading House on 39 missing Indians in Iraq

NEW DELHI: The Congress members in Rajya Sabha on Monday accused the government of misleading Parliament on 39 Indian youths who went missing in Iraq two years ago.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Pratap Singh Bajwa of the Congress said that in June 2014, 40 people — mostly from Punjab, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh — were kidnapped by the IS. Bajwa said one Harjeet, hailing from Gurdaspur district, had managed to escape and later gave a statement that all the Indians were killed in front of his eyes.

The Congress MP said that Swaraj had then assured Akali Dal leaders that the government had information from six sources which confirmed that all these people were alive.

He also urged the Prime Minister to send an all-party delegation to Iraq to ascertain the ground reality. Bajwa said if the abducted youths were alive, they should be brought back or else their parents should be informed about their death. “We have been taking the nation and Parliament for a ride for two years,” he added.

In agreement with the Congress MPs, Naresh Gujral, member of the NDA partner Akali Dal, demanded that the external affairs minister make a statement on the issue. ‘NO COMMON SYLLABUS FOR CBSE, STATES’

The government does not propose to introduce a common curriculum in CBSE and state boards as the uniform syllabus does not take into account the local contexts, culture and language, Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.

In his written reply HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said multiplicity of curricula and educational resources are desirable as the uniform syllabus does not take into account the local contexts, culture and language.