The Hindu : National : Concern over plight of Indians working for contractors in Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 05, 2004

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National

Concern over plight of Indians working for contractors in Iraq

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 4. The External Affairs Ministry today expressed "concern" at the disturbing reports about the conditions in which some Indian nationals were being forced to work for "contractors" in Iraq.

A Press Trust of India report from Kollam said on Monday that four Keralites, among a group of 20 Malayalees, had claimed that they had run away from an American military camp near Mosul, Iraq, after a nine-month ordeal.

These four persons claimed that they were lured to Kuwait with the promise of a job and then transported to Iraq. In the first four months, they were not allowed to telephone or send letters to their relatives back home. Not a single dollar was paid to them, they said.

"Memories of those nine months - the deafening sounds of bombs and shell attacks and menial treatment by gun-toting U.S. soldiers - will always haunt me," one of the four men, Hameed, was quoted as saying.

While expressing concern at the treatment of the four, the Ministry said the U.S. embassy had been "requested" for information about the numbers of Indian nationals known to have been employed in this manner and also about the accounts that Indians were being compelled to remain in Iraq against their will.

"This is in follow-up to similar contacts by Indian embassies with the authorities concerned in Baghdad, Amman and Kuwait," the Ministry said in a statement.

The U.S. embassy said the mission had seen the news reports about the four Keralites and was looking into the matter.

"We take all reports of abuse seriously and allegations of ill-treatment are investigated," an embassy spokesman, when asked for a response to the news reports, said today.

"We are committed to treating all persons under coalition authority [in Iraq] with dignity, respect and humanity," the spokesman said.

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