All the 46 nurses who were in the custody of the ISIS will return to India by 7 AM tomorrow and this could be considered to be a major achivement for the Indian government. There are several questions being asked about what suddenly changed the mind of the ISIS and a decision to release them so soon was taken. None of the nurses sounded confident yesterday and many were shaky and were unable to tell what exactly was happening.  Was there a deal or was it plain negotiating skills with the help of the Red Crescent and some authorities from Saudi Arabia or was there money involved? Sources tell rediff.com that there was no money involved. It must be noted that the ISIS does not need money as it has an ample load of it. After all they are worth 4 billion dollars. Moreover on certain fronts like the Taliban, even the ISIS considers taking money after holding people ransom as un-Islamic. The same was found during the IC-814 hijack when one of the negotiators was told that Mullah Omar has not approved the demand for money. The case is same with the ISIS.

There was a great deal of negotiation that was done to bring the nurses back to India. The Indian government had also sought the help of some Saudi authorities who too put in a word with the ISIS. However what one must bear in mind that the ISIS was not trying to create a hostage sitiuation with Indians as they need the skilled Indian labour and would want to have them around when they decide to run their caliphat.  This brings us to the question as to why the Indian nurses were so suddenly moved to Mosul from Tikrit which gave everyone the impression that it was being turned into a hostage crisis. The hostage like situation was created by the ISIS possibly for publicity. At first they were not ready to let them go and had even moved them to basement. However yesterday they agreed to let them go and this is why they shifted them to Mosul and then agreed to hand them over at Erbil. This is a classic handover which any group would follow. They refused to hand them over in Tikrit as they would not want such a thing happening especially when they are guarded against an attack. The Iraqi army has been trying to regain control over Tikrit and any such handover would only expose their location and could lead to a surprise attack by the enemy. This is why the nurses were suddenly shifted out of Tikrit taken to Mosul, kept at an undisclosed location and then handed over at Erbil which is neutral venue.  Regarding the issue of nurses, the ISIS did not want to let them go at first. They felt that they needed skilled labour around especially in a war like situation. However the Iraqis have no problem with the Indians and they would think twice before harming them. Moreover taking on India is not good for them as it would lead to unwanted pressure from international quarters. The source also adds that the Saudis also helped to a certain extent and India’s friendly relations with that nation too helped.  C D Sahay, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing who has handled the IC-814 hostage situation says that the government has been patient and handled it in a perfect manner. They never once let out the details of the negotiations and all they said was they are safe. There were no irreponsible statements that were made and once the negotiations suceeded they were ready to bring them back. The Ambassador in Iraq is a man of great repute. He has the right contacts and skills to oversee such an operation. All through he shared information and the government never allowed any sort of frenzy.  Sahay adds that this should be a learning curve for the disapora outside. Generally when they see a crisis coming they should act more responsibly and get out of that country and this would help the government a great deal.

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