Saudi Arabia, a Guantnamo Bay for Indian workers

C Shivakumar
Chennai:
Working in Saudi Arabia is like serving a term in Guantanamo Bay for these eight Muslim Indian workers, including three women, who were abused, denied wages and food, kept in detention and were deported empty-handed.
The workers were from Vellore, Belgaum, Malegaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Rajasthan and Uttrar Pradesh and each have a tale of the ordeal they underwent in a country, where they went to chase their dreams and hoped to bring in happiness through the wealth they believed would have earned.
Nasreen, who is in her forties, went to Saudi Arabia to pay off her Rs 2 lakh debt, which she incurred after losing her husband, and to buy happiness for her family which was living a hand to mouth existence in Vellore. After the agent made her take up the offer, little did she know that she would be forced to cook for 36 member family and also cook for a hotel and do household chores. The reward she got was unpaid wages, abused by her owner and forced to work 18 to 19 hours a day.
After six months, she could take no more of it and fled the home and reached embassy in Jeddah with her mobile phone. The embassy then handed her to Saudi authorities for deportation. “I was kept in detention for 40 days before being sent to Chennai. The food in the jail was of poor quality and we were treated as ssecond grade citizens when compared to Pakistanis, Filipinos and Bangladeshis,” recalls Nasreen.
Similar was the plight of Reshma, a resident of Belgaum who lost her husband and was forced to take up a job in Saudi. Reshma was 27-year-old but the agent got a passport showing her age as 31 as government has banned women below 30 working as housemaid. “I went there on a tourist visa. I was abused by the owner in Al Zouk,a place in Saudi, who treated me like an animal. I was beaten and abused and then transferred to another owner where the plight was same. I felt like a bird in the cage,” recalls Reshma. “I fled the house, which was in a remote location and approached the Indian embassy, who kept me in detention and then sent me to Saudi detention centre. I was kept there for more than a month before being sent to Chennai,” says Reshma, a ninth standard dropout and knows Hindi only.

Valarmathi of National Domestic Workers Movement, Migrant Forum India, told Express that agents are now targetting the vulnerable women and trafficking them to Middle east countries. All the women who had been deported from Saudi are those Muslim women who lost their husband and have to feed their family.

Besides agent, the workers are criticising the Indian embassy for failing to do their duty in protecting the interest of Indian nationals. “There are 700 workers who are still in detention as they have fled their owners after being forced to work in inhuman conditions,” says Azneel, who took up a job as welder
Usually, when the worker flees the from the workplace, the owner strikes off his name and he or she is termed illegal. They go to embassy who check their antecedents and then send them to Saudi detention centre. There once they are proven that they are illegal, then embassy prepares emergency passport and the worker is deported..
But then the same criteria is not applicable to other countries. “We are given step-motherly treatment as our embassy never complains. Other nationals leave Saudi within three to four days but we have to stay in prison and denied quality food,” says Moin from Allahabad. Interestingly, the workers have urged Narendra Modi government to act against embassy officials for failing to protect the rights of its nationals.
Many people are still in the jail for more than two to three years as they have not been termed illegal. The embassy should help them, says Mohammed Ilayas Pasha. To a query on whether they want to go back to a foreign country to earn their livelihoods, the men and women say ‘No. In our country, we can live in peace. Saudi is an alien country,” they say