Year after hostage drama, KGL off watchlist

A year after three Indians — Antaryami, Sukhdev and Tilak Raj — were taken hostage in Iraq, leading to a 41-day drama which saw Ne...

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A year after three Indians — Antaryami, Sukhdev and Tilak Raj — were taken hostage in Iraq, leading to a 41-day drama which saw New Delhi get involved in very tense negotiations, the company at the heart of all this, Kuwait & Gulf Links (KGL) Transport, is now off the government’s watchlist.

The three truck drivers were employees of KGL. They had been asked to carry goods into Iraq but didn’t have the necessary permission to go into that country. However, sources say, there was no ban by the Government on travelling to Iraq, and since the order to stamp passports with ‘Not for travel to Iraq’ came when the hostage crisis was under way, KGL could not have been kept on the watchlist for long.

KGL had indeed been on the list for the next few months but was removed recently on the ground that it could not be penalised for violating a ban that did not exist when the drivers were kidnapped. Usually, emigration clearance is not given for agents seeking to take workers out of India to companies named on the list.

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As a fallout of the hostage crisis, it had been decided that any Indian requiring emigration check and travelling to either Kuwait, Syria or Jordan will be stamped ‘Not for travel to Iraq’.

The Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs, under whom the Protectorate General of Emigrants was shifted from the Labour Ministry after the hostage crisis, is now examining the possibility of extending this to workers travelling to United Arab Emirates.

The Protectorate of Emigrants (POE) in Mumbai has been asked to analyse the traffic to Dubai after unconfirmed reports that Indians have been spotted working for UAE-based companies in Iraq. This is being done to strengthen the case for such a stamp on the passports of UAE-bound Indian workers.

Besides this, other measures in the works include:

• Issue of smart cards to all Indian workers requiring emigration check. This will be swiped at the point of departure and will help Indians seek assistance from Indian missions abroad even if their passports have been retained by the employer.

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• Given the charges of rampant corruption leading to alleged illegal clearances, new officials are being recruited to head all regional POE offices, barring Hyderabad, Kochi and Kolkata.

• Verification and prior attestation of companies seeking to hire workers from the country by Indian missions. The process has already started with some Indian missions in the Gulf looking at hiring additional local staff.

The number of labourers going out of India for employment has recorded a good increase. From about 1 lakh in 2000, it is expected to touch 5 lakh this year, which is 50,000 more than last year. Given the increase, official sources said, the Protectorate General of Emigrants has also been asked to keep a close watch on the pattern of migration to anticipate any crisis.