Hostage crisis enters 14th day

Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaimi is back as main negotiator with the Black Banner group, which has kidnapped three Indian truck drivers in Iraq.

Dulaimi, who is the chairman of the National League of Iraqi Tribes Members, was today given the green signal by the Black Banner group to continue to negotiate with the Kuwait Gulf Link Transport Company on its behalf.

This was the only good news yesterday on the hostages front as the hostages completed two weeks in captivity on Tuesday with no apparent sign of when their ordeal would come to an end.

"We have not heard anything new. We are keeping our fingers crossed," said Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, who is heading the crisis management group, which has been working behind the scenes to defuse the crisis arising from the abduction.

The agony for the families of the three captives, Antaryami Bains and Tilak Raj of the Una district of Himachal Pradesh and Sukhdev Singh of the Ropar district in Punjab continued unabated.

The KGL statement said al-Dulaimi, appointed by the kidnappers as their negotiator, had confirmed to the company that the hostages were in good condition.

An Iraqi militant group abducted the three Indians along with three Kenyans and an Egyptian on July 21. All seven are truck drivers working for KGL.

On Sunday, al-Dulaimi had announced that he was pulling out of the negotiations as he could not arrive at any agreement with the transport company.

The Indian embassy in Baghdad had issued a press release last night welcoming the discussions underway between al-Dulaimi and representatives of KGL to resolve the hostage crisis.

Appreciation was expressed towards the efforts made by both, on humanitarian considerations in pursuing negotiations.

A fresh appeal was made for the earliest possible release of the hostages to enable them to rejoin their anxious families in India.