New Delhi: With the hostage crisis involving three Indians in Iraq ending in their safe release, appreciations have been pouring in for Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, who headed the Crisis Management Group (CMG) set up to deal with the situation.

Ahamed has received kudos from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and some ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) allies for the way the crisis was handled.

The Prime Minister called up Ahamed last evening (Sep 2, 2004) to express his appreciation of his handling of the situation which resulted in the safe release of Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukhdeo Singh after six weeks without any compromises being made in the Government's principles, official sources said.

Manmohan Singh noted that Ahamed, who heads ruling ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), had lent an able leadership to the CMG, which worked round-the-clock during the six-week long drama, they said.

Ahamed, on his part, said whatever he had done was as a representative of the Government and his efforts were centred on the Government policy. Ahamed thanked the Prime Minister for his encouragement.

Earlier, Gandhi called up Ahamed and appreciated his hard work and noted that his sincere efforts had paid off, the sources said.

Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan also conveyed his appreciations for securing the safe release of the hostages "without the country's prestige being lost".