Of the 39 victims, two – Khokhan Sikder and Samar Tikadar – were from West Bengal’s Nadia district
As External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed the death of 39 Indians, who were abducted by Islamic State from Iraq's Mosul 4 years ago, in a statement in Rajya Sabha today, two families, 1500 km away, were bracing themselves for a life without hope.
Of the 39 victims, two – Khokhan Sikder and Samar Tikadar – were from West Bengal’s Nadia district and had said goodbyes to their respective families so they could give them a shot at better life. As they went missing 4 years ago, the families were waiting for news, with a hope that it would not be something which would bring grief to them.
That hope was lost today.
Unprepared, they were first left in shock as they got the news of the death of their beloved through the media and then with a renewed grief.
Namita Sikdar, wife of Khokon Sikdar was too heavy for words. Khokon’s brother-in-law, Subhash Biswas, talking to DNA from his residence at Tehatta area of the district said, that the all these years the family had a faint hope that he would be back.
“Khokon had gone there to work as a construction labour in 2011. He went missing in 2014 and speculations were afoot that he had been abducted by terrorists. All these years, Namita visited different government offices and even went to Delhi to seek help to bring back her husband,” he said.
He added that in 2016, Swaraj had said that they would be brought back alive, which filled the family with joy.
A group of 40 Indian workers, mostly from Punjab, were taken hostage by ISIS when it overran Iraq's second largest city Mosul in 2014. While the government did not confirm their death for all these years, Mrs Swaraj today announced that their bodies were found in a mass grave in Badosh, northwest of Mosul, in an area that Iraqi forces recaptured last July.
Out of 38 individuals who have been confirmed dead, 27 are from Punjab, 4 from Himachal Pradesh, 2 from West Bengal and 5 are from Bihar. Another person whose identity is yet to be confirmed is also from Bihar.
“We were waiting for the day to see him alive again but on February 9, senior police officials had come to Namita’s place and took his children to the local BDO office to take their blood samples for a DNA test. This sent an alarm bell ringing among them,” Biswas added.
Khokon’s son Abhro Sikdar, who is now five-years-old, was not even born when the father left the country. His daughter Rita Sikdar has recently gone through the Graduation first year examination.
Biswas added that the family was living in penury, barely making ends meet with the help of Khokon’s sisters who live in the vicinity.
The situation with Dipali Tikadar, wife of Samar Tikadar, is not much different.
While she lives in Chapra, 30 km away from Tehatta, when DNA contacted her, she was at a training centre of the state government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) at Barrackpore Cantonment area in North 24 Parganas district.
Talking to DNA, she broke down as the news had just got to her. “Our children’s blood samples had been collected in December last year and we were waiting for him (Samar) to return home,” she said, sobbing over the phone.
She was on a month-long training programme and was slated to return on April 7 but was now planning cut her trip short.
Both Namita and Dipali had been engaged as ICDS workers earning Rs 4,800 a month.
The Tikadars have two children. 14-year-old Sudipta Tikadar is a Class IX student his nine-year-old sister studies in Class IV. “When the blood samples were collected, I was apprehensive about the worst but still was hoping against hope that he would return to us alive,” she added.
A family member of the Tikadars said they were hopeful that the DNA would not match because there were so many who had been to the Middle East in search of a living. The had got employment opportunity in Iraq after paying an amount of about Rs 80,000 each to a local agent.
District Magistrate of Nadia, Sumit Gupta said that he was yet to receive an official confirmation of the death would visit the families of the two after that.
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