New Delhi: Former Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari Thursday attacked the Modi government for a muted and perfunctory response over crime against Indians abroad, including the missing top Indian media executive Zulfiqar Khan in Kenya for over 93 days.
Tewari questioned the slack of Indian officials, more of the Defence ministry and external affairs ministry, for maintaining silence on the issues of Indians missing/ stabbed in other countries giving restless nights to family members and friends in India.
Tewari was commenting on a tweet seeking urgent attention on the issue of eight Indian Navy veterans in illegal custody/detention in Doha (Qatar) for 57 days.
Along with the illegal detention of navy veterans, Tewari highlighted the issue of the alleged killing of a missing Indian media executive in Kenya and the stabbing of an Indian student in Sydney.
“Had the Opposition headed the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Defense/EA, there would be accountability,” Tewari added.
All key parliamentary panels – External Affairs, Defence, and Finance – lie with the ruling BJP.
Earlier this month, Congress lost the chairmanship of the parliamentary committees on Home Affairs and Information Technology.
The number of committees are allocated in accordance with the strength of the party in either house of the parliament.
In the latest reconstitution of parliamentary panels, notified by secretariats of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, chairpersons of several committees were changed.
Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi was replaced by BJP MP and former DGP of Uttar Pradesh Brijlal as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing committee on Home Affairs.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was replaced by Prataprao Jadhav, a Shiv Sena MP from the Shinde faction, as the head of the Parliamentary Panel on Information Technology.
Tharoor's committee was in news throughout the year for taking up several subjects which were critical of the government.
The Trinamool Congress, which had the chair of the Parliamentary Panel on Food and Consumer Affairs, was not given the chairmanship of any parliamentary committee after the reshuffle.
The panel on food was allotted to BJP MP from West Bengal Locket Chatterjee.
Similarly, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Samajwadi Party also lost the chairmanship of panel on Industry and Health respectively, left with no committee to chair.
TRS leader Keshav Rao was replaced by DMK leader Tiruchi Siva as chairperson of panel on Industry, while BJP MP Vivek Thakur is heading the panel on Health replacing SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.
BJP's erstwhile ally JD(U) was given a committee in the latest restructuring. Its Rajiv Ranjan Singh is now heading the panel on Urban Development.
Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan missing in Kenya
Top Indian media executive Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan along with his friend Mohammad Zaid Sami Kidwai has been missing in Nairobi for more than 93 days. The Nairobi government is taking its time to speed up the investigation.
On Wednesday, the friends of Zulfiqar Khan appealed to prime minister Narendra Modi to form an investigation team and immediately launch an investigation in Kenya with the help of the Kenyan Government to find Zulfi.
Friends of Zulfi, in the absence of any results so far, are also appealing to the Indian media to extend a helping hand and do its investigation to find the son of this country and get him back.
Illegal detention of Indian Navy veterans
In another incident, eight former Indian Navy officers working in Qatar with a company providing training and other services to the Qatari Emiri Navy are in custody in that country. According to sources, the Indian Embassy in Doha is aware of the incident.
Twitter user @DrMeetuBhargava said the veterans have been in "illegal custody/detention" in Doha for "57 days".
She tagged PM Modi and several ministers, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri.
Stabbing of an Indian student in Sydney
In another incident, an Indian national pursuing education in Australia has been left in critical condition after he was stabbed multiple times earlier this month.
The student, identified as Shubham Garg, is persuing his higher studies in mechanical engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He was attacked with a knife and allegedly stabbed 11 times on October 6.
"My brother Shubham Garg, 28, from UP, was brutally attacked in Sydney, Australia, 11 times with a knife, and he is in critical condition. We seek your immediate help in this matter and emergency visa to a family member to look after him," Kavya Garg, @KGARG1205, the sister of the injured student, wrote on Twitter on October 12
The government need to swing into action swiftly before it is too late
Several Indians living in foreign countries are becoming victims of hate crimes. Some places of worship were also recently desecrated.
Last month the rioting in Leicester, followed by the attack on a temple in Birmingham, was suspected of organised crime against Indians in the United Kingdom. Another recent incident from Brampton, Canada was equally worrying as the number of such incidents has drastically increased.
India's population living abroad and travelling abroad is the largest in the world, with 1.6 crores (16 million) people living outside the country and equal number travelling for tourism and business.
Indians living abroad look forward to the Indian government reviewing and issuing travel advisories and instructions for peaceful living and equally support and help in times of need.
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