Iraq crisis: Book the real culprits

Though the Crisis Management Group is sparing no efforts to secure release of the three Indian truck drivers held hostage in Iraq, not much has been done to book the real culprits.

Though the Crisis Management Group is sparing no efforts to secure the release of the three Indian truck drivers held hostage in Iraq, not much has been done to book the real culprits. It is common knowledge that getting visas to Gulf countries is not an easy task. The whole process takes days. Plus, one has to get sponsorship and submit a plethora of documents.

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But, strangely, scores of Indians like the three truck drivers manage to get visas to the Gulf without much scrutiny. Interestingly, the three captive drivers had only a visit visa for Kuwait, which was procured by a Mumbai-based manpower agency despite a government ban. What is more intriguing is how these three got employment in the Kuwaiti company KGL, even though they had only a visit visa, and how they managed to cross over to Iraq. Insiders say that there is huge corruption involved. It is high time New Delhi cracks down on the nexus.

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Indian diplomacy is looking east and New Delhi is going the extra mile to engage with countries in the region. So it is not surprising that even the Japanese have embarked on a Shinkansen (bullet train) approach to diplomacy with India.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yuriko Kawaguchi will visit India to boost strategic ties. Besides a dinner meeting with foreign minister Natwar Singh on September 12, she will call on PM Manmohan Singh and UPA president Sonia Gandhi. The two sides will focus on closer cooperation on terrorism as well as bilateral trade, which is much below the potential. UNSC reforms and expansion of G-8 is also be on the agenda.