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Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Kala Afghana (Gurdaspur), May 19
Harjit Masih (26), the Punjabi youth who was reportedly evacuated from strife-torn Iraq, is working as a labourer with a contractor at Parowal village.
The contractor, Vicky, who is constructing a church in the village, said Masih’s father, Hidayat Masih asked him to give him a job. “I employed him four days ago for Rs250 per day. The work on the church is almost complete. I will train him if I get any further construction order,” he said.
One of his relatives said ever since Masih’s had claimed that all 39 Indians abducted in Iraq had been killed by ISIS militants, Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials had been keeping an eye on his movements.
Robin Masih, his first cousin, said: “CID officials of the Batala police also regularly visit the village and make routine enquiries from fellow villagers. When Harjit came to India, he told the IB that nearly 20 Punjabis had been shot dead and that he was witness to their killings. His claim was not questioned at that time.”
“Just before he addressed the media, the IB rang him up and assured him of a job in New Delhi. However, fearing that he might never be allowed to return to his village, we asked him to decline the offer. It is better to toil as a labourer rather than falling into the hands of the Intelligence agencies,” he added.
The family, which lives in abject poverty, is a worried lot and is on the IB radar. “We request the Batala police to provide security to the family,” said Gurvinder Singh Jolly, Masih’s neighbour.
Jolly, who is also president of the Gurdaspur unit of the SAD (A), has turned the family’s benefactor ever since Harjit returned to the village. “If External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj claims all Punjabis are safe, why has she not produced some proof to substantiate her claim? Harjit will not gain anything by telling lies,” he added.
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