Families of over 150 men gone missing in foreign countries held a protest march here on Wednesday.

The families, who later held a dharna outside the DC office under the banner of the Lok Bhalai Party, said their kin (in most cases) had gone to Libya, Spain, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran in the lure of money, but they had no clue of their whereabouts since. Most families claimed to have been duped by dubious travel agents.

Harbans Singh and Ranjit Kaur, a couple from Kartarpur, said, “A travel agent in Adampur sent our son and around 20 other youths to Libya to work for one KG company there. But after spending 10 months in Libya, he suddenly stopped calling us. He last called us in August last year, and has been missing since.” Palo of Adampur had a similar story about her carpenter son Raj Kumar. She said in August last year, her son contacted her to tell her that his company had “sold” him and the rest of his group to another company in Spain. “He had said he would call me from Spain, but 13 months have passed and I am still to get any call.”

Travel agents who sent these men abroad have either disappeared or have washed their hands off the matter, the families alleged. Most families apprehend that their sons have either been put in jail or killed by unscrupulous travel agents.

They handed a memorandum to the Jalandhar DC for forwarding it to the Union Ministry of External Affairs, urging it to intervene. Ramandeep Singh Bharowal, general secretary of Lok Bhalai Party, said over 60 men are stuck in Libya, over 20 in UAE and Iran and 63 in Melilla, an autonomous city in Spain.

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