Chennai: The Centre would order an inquiry on how 1,500 ex-servicemen were transhipped to Iraq despite a ban on people to that country, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said today (May 3, 2004).

He told a press conference that his Ministry had asked the Union Labour Ministry to launch an inquiry into the episode and take "appropriate action" against the agencies who had "fraudulently" taken these men without valid documents. These men were originally permitted to go Jordan and Kuwait, he said.

The Indian Government had banned sending people to Iraq from April 15 as the security deteriorated in that country.

The ban would be lifted only after the security situation improved in that country, he said.

He said that the protector of emigrants had been asked to exercise "greater caution" even in permitting people to go to Jordan and Kuwait, he said.

He said before the ban came into force, some Indian companies requested the Ministry to send 360 men to safeguard their offices in Iraq, which was permitted.