Nepalmountainnews Report | 9 Jul 2008
More than 3 hundred Nepalis flown to Iraq with sweet dream of lucrative jobs overseas were reportedly being stranded at streets of the capital Bagdad.
About 150 blue-collar reached Iraq through the hands of brokers with promising jobs at Yartho hotel in Bagdad and other more than 135 workers flown there for jobs at Global Securities were left high and dry at streets near Bagdad airport after the recruiting offices denied to admit them.
According to the reports the workers those reached the war-hit gulf nation were from Maygdi, Nawalparashi, Chitwan, Jhapa, Syanja and Nuwakot districts.
"More than 3 hundred Nepalis have been stranded in front of the Yartho hotel in Bagdad for a week," one of the marooned Harka Bahadur Thapa told over telephone. He said that the American forces and the Iraqi police jointly forced them to live in open air after the Nepalis workers pelted stones at the hotel in response to the hotel owner announcement not to take in any Nepali workers in his hotel.
Owner of the Yartho hotel had refused to recruit any of the Nepali staffs as other two Nepalis Nagendra Puri and Chiranjivi Sharma were due to pay about 40 thousand US$ to him.
"We are given only two slice of bread once in a day for meal and our problem has been further compounded by the fact that there are no toilets and the Iraqi police guarding us don't even allow us to go to the nearby hotel for it," Thapa said adding all this has been happening for the last seven days.
Currently, around 40 Iraqi police are guarding the Nepalis.
"Please sir, we don't have money, we are stranded here and don't know what to do…we are dying of hunger…please rescue us," one another Nepali said calling from the same cell phone Thapa had used.
While on conversion his throat sounds blocked at times, and a sound of plea and cry could clearly been heard at the backdrop. At the same time rude Iraqi languages could also be heard threatening them to stop crying.
According to the victims, they have reached Iraq after paying 250 to 300 thousands to the brokers. Those agents who flown them to Iraq were also not in their contact now. They suspect if they fled. The brokers have also threatened to slain them if they tell anyone their names and address.
The victims had pleaded to call the government to help them. But when the foreign ministry was approached for reaction, it was told that 'they knew nothing'. -RSS
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