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| Sunday, 1 August 2004 |
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Mixed emotions for families of Indian hostages as deadline extended Relatives of three Indian hostages wept with relief after kidnappers in Iraq extended the deadline to start killing them by 24 hours Friday, but urged New Delhi to speed up efforts to free the men. "This one-day extension worries us.The night is already half over and in even if the deadline is extended by 100,000 days we cannot rest," said Ram Das, grand uncle of hostage Antaryami, who uses one name. "We can sit back only when he returns home," Das told AFP in the tiny village of Dehlan in northern Himalachal Pradesh state, the hub of spiralling street protests against the government's handling of the crisis. New Delhi announced Friday night that it was rushing a special envoy to Iraq to help in negotiations with the hostage-takers, who have held the Indian truck drivers since July 21 along with three Kenyans and an Egyptian. The decision came as the abductors, who call themselves Holders of the Black Banners, in a statement to AFP extended the deadline until Saturday 1500 GMT. "At 8:30 pm when the deadline expired I died one million times. People are terribly agitated. There are thousands blocking the roads but it looks like our protests are working: India is sending an envoy to talks direct," Das said. Harvinder Singh, the elder brother of hostage Sukhdev Singh, said the deadline extension was good news but "not enough". "Just free him. We cannot live like this. Please, our dad is sick, look at mother. God! We are frustrated," he said breaking down in sobs in his home village of Makraun Kalan in northern Punjab state. In a hospital in Una, Promilla Devi, wife of the third Indian hostage Tilak Raj, remained under sedation, oblivious to the rapidly-changing developments. Junior foreign minister E. Ahamed said in New Delhi that a senior diplomat was being sent to the Indian embassy in Baghdad to help secure the men's freedom. |
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