Friday 24 August 2012

Allowed to go home


Talking to ‘Private News Channel’, the deportees said they remained in the custody of Muscat police for one month, adding they paid Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 to agents for reaching Oman.

‘We wanted to go Oman illegally through agents’, the deportees said.

Earlier, around 500 Pakistanis deported from Oman arrived at Ghass Bander Kemari after they were allowed to enter Pakistan on the directives of Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Ghauri.

FIA investigated them and custom officials scrutinized the documents of the deportees at the Ghass Bander and later they were allowed to go home.
Deportees allowed to go home

Unfortunately this is quite an ordinary story of misery and exploitation .
Hundreds monthly arrive to the Gulf coasts from Asian countries, hoping for a job allowing them to send money home for their families .
And there's a huge market behind this .
There are local agents who organize the whole thing, expatriates in the Arab country of destination, and of course locals, who help to provide either the visa later, or at least accomodation, that is one room for ten or fifteen people .
This happens also in every country of the world .

What is strange though, is the second part of the story, which is the way they were dealt with, to go back home .
There are different versions online on the episode, but I think we can assess they were all put on that boat called al Basit (oddly enough, it is one of the 99 names of Allah and it means the reliever) and sent back home, piled up like animals .
Now if it's correct, when it is stated that no one at the port of arrival knew about them, then the biggest responsibility of what happened, goes to Oman authorities .
My guess is they did not even alert the embassy on the issue .
Or the embassy may have just ignored and told them to provide by themselves .
But we are speaking about 500 Pakistanis, not just a bunch .
So I tend to believe the guilt is on Oman side .
In either cases, those people were one more time victims of injustice .
No one will go on barricades for them, as they are not pussy riots .
But it would be fair to investigate and punish those who did this .
In 2012 we cannot treat desperate people that way .
We must respect human dignity .

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