Punjabi trio held, tortured in Libya

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Chandigarh: Three Punjabis are allegedly stuck in Libya and their families have accused their employers of holding them hostage, torturing them and not providing them food and medication.

Sarbjit Singh (25) of Latala village, Titu Bansal (60) of Bowani village and Malkiat Singh (26) of Ghaloti – all from Ludhiana district — were welders. They had left for Libya on April 28.

They were allegedly not paid salary since their joining in an oil services company. Their distraught families have alleged that not only the passports of the three were seized by officials of the company, but they were also being deprived of food and medication.

The families and the International Human Rights Organisation have sought the intervention of Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for the immediate rescue of the three.

The company officials had also seized their mobile phones, alleged Manpreet Kaur and Kuldip Kaur, wives of Malkiat Singh and Sarbjit Singh, respectively.

“We came to know about their predicament through a friend of one of their colleagues on WhatsApp. They are not being allowed to talk to us. They managed to establish contact with the help of their colleague, who updates about them whenever he finds an opportunity to do so,” said Manpreet.

Gurdip Singh, son of Bansal, said his father was a diabetes patient, but he was not being given any medication.

Bhupinder Kaur, mother of Sarbjit Singh, said, “If we would have known that our sons were going to meet such a fate, we would not have allowed them to go.”

Manpreet and Kuldip said their husbands had gone to Libya with the help of a travel agent. “Everything remained fine and as per the plan. There was no problem in reaching there and they were engaged by an oil company. The trouble started when they started demanding their salaries. When they insisted, they were taken hostages. Their mobile phones and passports were snatched and they were beaten repeatedly by company officials,” alleged Kuldip.

Jaspreet Singh Sidhu, president of the International Human Rights Organisation, said he had taken up the matter with the office of the Union External Affairs Minister. “We have sought immediate release of the three as their lives are in danger,” said Sidhu.

He said he had received videos of the three being treated badly by company officials.