India Asks U.S. for Workers' Information (Iraq)

India Asks U.S. for Workers' Information


May 4, 4:33 PM (ET)

NEW DELHI (AP) - India asked the United States for information Tuesday on reports that Indian nationals were being forced to work for contractors in Iraq with little rest and low pay and held "against their will."

The Ministry of External Affairs asked the U.S. Embassy for details on the number of Indians working in Iraq, a ministry spokesman said.

The ministry "expressed its concern regarding the disturbing reports about the conditions in which some Indian nationals are being forced to work for contractors active in Iraq," a statement said.

The embassy was asked about news reports "that Indians who wished to leave were unable to do so, and were being compelled to continue to remain in Iraq against their will," the statement said.

....

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040504/D82BVS300.html

Delhi asks US about Indians in Iraq

PTI< TUESDAY, MAY 04, 2004 06:08:55 PM >

NEW DELHI : India on Tuesday expressed concern over "disturbing reports" about the conditions in which some of its nationals are being forced to work in Iraq and requested the US Embassy here for details of those compelled to remain in the war-ravaged country against their will.

In response to queries, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman said, "The US Embassy was requested for information about the numbers of such Indian nationals known to have been employed in this manner, and also about the accounts that Indians who wished to leave were unable to do so, and were being compelled to continue to remain in Iraq against their will."

...

He said the MEA "today expressed its concern regarding the disturbing reports about the conditions in which some Indian nationals are being forced to work for contractors active in Iraq ".

...

Four Keralites, who were "cheated" by job agents and taken to a US military camp in Iraq , managed to escape recently narrated their nine-month-long ordeal in the camp as slaves.

One of them said "We were slaves in American kitchens".

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/658740.cms

(from a Kerala site, where the four were from)

India News: Indian back home after slogging in Iraq for US troops

Thiruvananthapuram, India : A 32-year-old Indian butcher is finally back home, after slaving away for nine months in a US military camp in Iraq where he ended up although travel agents had promised him a job in Kuwait.

Aliyarkunju Faizal is today grateful to god for saving him from what he says was a nightmarish experience from which he feared he would never be able to escape.

Faizal told IANS in a telephonic interview that he was kicked and beaten by American soldiers who forced him to work for long hours daily and made him cook pork in violation of his Islamic beliefs.

Stung by the charges, the US embassy in New Delhi promised to investigate the allegations of torture and illegal detention of Indian workers by the US military in Iraq.

....


http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=35300


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There was also mention of 1,500 Indians in similar situation at the Times of India site.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_730198,000900020003.htm

“We were slaves in American kitchens. We barely got two hours of sleep. Any slip-ups and we were tortured for days," says Hameed.

 “Once I told the kitchen in-charge that as I was a devout Muslim I could not cook pork. I was beaten up with rifle butts,” says Hameed’s brother Shahjahan.

“Iraqi militia attacked our camps several times. At times, officers used us as shields,” adds Hameed.

(snip)

The Americans in the camp told the Indians that they had purchased them for a hefty amount, and that they were to work in the kitchen and do other odd jobs.

Apparently, "working like slaves" was not a metaphor in this case.

country that doesn't hate us. geeez.