Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: The External Affairs (MEA) Minister Sushma Swaraj will on Monday take stock of the situation in the strife-torn Iraq where several Indians are currently trapped.
Swaraj will also chair a meeting with the concerned officials in the government and those deployed in Indian embassy in Iraq to assess the situation.
The meeting is taking place after the Indians working in Iraq were caught in crossfire between the government and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants (ISIS) and are unable to return.
Around 40 Indians have been abducted by the ISIS militants although they are said to be safe.
One of the abducted Indians managed to escape later and got in touch with the Indian embassy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was apprised of the situation last week and the issue is being considered as top priority of the government.
Out of them 29 are from Jalandhar, 28 from Kapurthala, 23 from Amritsar and 22 from Gurdaspur districts.
The Haryana government has reportedly stated that around 127 people from the state were stranded in the state.
Meanwhile, the MEA has set up 24x7 control rooms to deal with the assisstance requests for those held hostage by the ISIS militants in Mosul.
The workers` families can contact the control room at controlroom@mea.gov.in.
Additionally, the Indian Embassy in Baghdad has set up a 24 hour helpline, which can be contacted for assistance at following numbers:
+9647704444899
+9647704843247
