Indian embassy in Kuwait ensuring ban on travel to Iraq
The Indian embassy in Kuwait is going all out to ensure that the ban on the travel of Indian workers to Iraq is implemented.
From issuing notifications in papers to talking with Gulf companies, the Indian embassy in Kuwait is going all out to ensure that the ban on the travel of Indian workers to Iraq is implemented.
The Indian embassy in Kuwait does not want to take any chances, Ambassador Swashpawan Singh said following reports that some Gulf-based companies were hiring Indian drivers.
"We are taking all necessary measures to see that the ban imposed on Indian workers' travel to Iraq is in place and that entails regular monitoring and intimating the companies engaged in such work about the ban."
"You have to respect the decision of the Indian government and its concern for the safety of its nationals," Singh said he had conveyed to the companies.
The ban was imposed in August last year after three Indian drivers of Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport (KGL) were kidnapped and kept hostage in Baghdad initiating a flurry of diplomatic activities to secure their release. They were finally freed after 41 days.
Recent media reports in India had said recruitment camps were held in Punjab to hire drivers purportedly for Iraq and the agency involved in the hiring said it had the full documents in place and the necessary emigration clearance from Cochin in Kerala. It was not clear if the company was hiring drivers to carry goods from Kuwait to Iraq.
Singh that the Indian embassy was issuing regular notifications in the local papers about the ban which continues to remain in force in view of the present condition in Iraq.
"Once the situation improves then the government may lift the ban," he said.
When asked what were the other mechanisms involved to enforce the ban, Singh said he was in regular touch with the Kuwaiti companies engaged in work in Iraq to inform them about the ban.
"We have categorically told these companies that in their best interest of cordiality and business relations with the Indian government, the companies must refrain from engaging Indian workers to be deployed in Iraq."
The Indian embassy is certain that no Indian workers have travelled to Iraq from the Kuwaiti border to Baghdad or any other cities.
Singh, who was on a vacation when the hostage crisis in Baghdad took place, had rushed back to Kuwait to monitor and supervise the rescue operation along with senior Indian officials.
"We are not taking any chances this time," he said.
The Indian expatriate population in Kuwait is poised to touch the half million mark by the end of the year, Singh said. "I am confident we will hit the half million mark."