This is the second Ramadan, Naushad is away. Naushad’s brother Haroon Rashid (25), an electrician who worked for Nesma and Partners -- a Saudi Arabian construction firm -- died of an electric shock on June 12, 2013, while working in Makkah. His death ended up wrecking the life of his family and those of 41 others, including Naushad, who have been languishing in a Makkah prison for a year now.
“When my eldest son died, his colleagues demanded that the company send his body to us. The company refused and the workers protested and destroyed company property. Although I later gave my consent for them to bury him there, after a month the police arrested 41 Indian workers including my younger son Naushad and his uncle Sartaj Ali,” Siwan resident Mushtaq Ali told The Hindu .
Aided by Janata Dal (United) leader Ali Anwar Ansari, the families have approached several authorities including former Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid to bring their sons home. The imprisoned men hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. In February this year, the MP from Bihar raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha. Mr. Ansari told this paper that they now have hopes from the new government and have come to the Capital to approach External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
“The families have got calls from relatives working there that some of the boys have attempted suicide in prison. All of them received 50 lashings and prison terms ranging from two to five months which they have served. Yet, they are not being released as the company is demanding that they compensate them for the property destroyed in their agitation, which these people cannot afford,” he said.
“I used to be a master tailor, but my son’s death crushed me. I am bringing up my four other sons with savings but we don’t have any left,” Mr. Alam told this paper. Kaimur resident Abdullah Qureishi, whose son Imran, is also in prison said Muslim youth from the region flock to Saudi Arabia without verifying the antecedents of the employer in the hope of getting higher wages than India.
“In Patna, he (Imran) used to Rs. 3,000 per month. He was promised 1,500 riyals (more than Rs.24,000 per month) there, but gets only 800 riyals. After this incident, the youth have begun checking with the government, but earlier they blindly believed whatever the recruitment agents said,” Mr. Qureishi said.
External Affairs Ministry’s Joint Secretary (External Publicity) Syed Akbaruddin told this paper that the employer had petitioned the court to not release them until they compensated him for damages. “We are consulting with the employer if he could drop this demand. Rioting is rare in Saudi Arabia and their legal system is the Shariat law in which no lawyers are present and both sides present their case on their own. They (the workers) can contest the amount of compensation.”
