Remittances Don’t Come Without Bloodshed

Remittances Don’t Come Without Bloodshed

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

A special chartered plane of Nepal Airlines flown back 12 (plus one later on from New Delhi) dead bodies of those security guards killed at the bomb-blast in Kabul, from Afghanistan to Nepal on June 22, 2016. Prime Minister KP Oli accompanied by other ministers received the bodies at the Kathmandu International Airport in the midst of the ocean of grief and melancholy of the families: wives, children and parents of the deceased. The Nepalese hired by a private company called International Shepard Company for working as the security guards at the Canadian embassy in Kabul were killed in a bomb-blast while going to work. Along with the dead bodies came back 24 Nepalese. The non-resident Nepalese ambassador to Afghanistan arranged everything needed to make sure that the dead bodies were back and the injured were well treated.

On the Monday morning of June 20, 2016, a group of 27 Nepalese security guards were aboard a bus on the way to work, an unexpected bomb went off instantly killing 14 people and injuring seven. The first news came was 14 Nepalese were killed but later on it was clear that only 12 Nepalese were dead, the two were Indian nationals. Later on, one more Nepalese died at the hospital in New Delhi, India in course of the medical treatment.

Again the news was that a suicide bomber was responsible for the blast but the Nepalese chief of the security guards told the reporters in Kathmandu that he did not find any dead body of a supposed-to-be the suicide bomber; so the bomb must be fitted beforehand, and operated by a remote control. The chief of the security guards came back on the charted plane the government of Nepal sent to Afghanistan to pick up the dead bodies and anybody willing to come back home.

Immediately after the news of the bomb-blast in Kabul killing Nepalese security guards, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Oli through the foreign minister sent a message to the non-resident Nepalese ambassador to Afghanistan to go to Kabul and see what had happened and what could be done to provide the injured with the immediate relief, and bring back the dead to Nepal.

Nepalese ambassador in Pakistan also non-resident ambassador to Afghanistan missed the two morning flights from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Only two flights were available between Afghanistan and Pakistan every day. So, the ambassador had to wait until the next morning to fly to Afghanistan.

Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi twitted that he was saddened by the incident in Kabul and he was ready to provide the victims of the bomb blast with any help they needed. Thus, this time, Prime Minister Modi wearing a mask of an angel extended his hands of help if any Nepalese needed but Nepalese have not forgotten his demonic mask that had seized all the Nepal-Indian border-entry points blocking all the supplies to Nepal causing tremendous hardship to 30-million Nepalese, and even causing some to die from the short supply of medicines and other basic essentials that had to come from India.

Afghan President Ghani made a telephone call to the Nepalese president Bhandari, and conveyed the message of condolences on the loss of so many beautiful Nepalese lives of the security guards serving in Afghanistan.

UN General Secretary Ban-ki Moon has condemned the terrorists’ act of killing the innocent people in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, June 20, 2016, and sent the condolences to the families of the victims, the government of Nepal, and the Afghan government, and urged all concerned people to bring the culprits to justice, according to the news in ‘gorkhapatra’ of June 23, 2016. Taliban has claimed the responsibility for blowing up the bomb.

The government of Nepal immediately chartered a plane of the Nepal Airlines, and flown it to Afghanistan along with the groups of officials of the concerned agencies of the State to Kabul to bring back the dead and any Nepalese working in Afghanistan willing to come back to Nepal, and probably to complete any official work for ensuring the families of the victims of the bomb-blast to receive the compensation for the loss of the lives of the loved ones.

Working along with the Nepalese ambassador arrived in Afghanistan from Pakistan, the Nepalese officials reached in Kabul on the chartered plane managed to send the seriously injured five Nepalese to Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, India for further treatment, and the remaining two in Kabul. They also brought back the 12 dead, and 24 Nepalese willing to come back to their families.

Amidst the uncontrollably crying wives, children and parents, Prime Minster KP Oli, Deputy Prime Minster for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa, Home Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Supply Minister Deepak Bohara, and Acting Chief of Army Staff Baldev Raj Mahat were at the airport and received the dead bodies, according to the news in ‘gorkhapatra’ of June 23, 2016. Then, the government announced that the State would provide the families of the victims of the bomb blast with any needed relief.

International Shepard Company has hired the Nepalese for the security guards at the Canadian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Some of the Nepalese serving as the security guards in Kabul, returned on the charted plane sent to pick up the dead and anybody willing to come back, said that the bomb-blast had been mainly due to the security negligence of the International Shepard Company.

One of the Nepalese returnees from Afghanistan told the reporters at the Kathmandu International Airport that the Nepalese have been the target of the Taliban in Afghanistan. A few years ago, while on duty in Afghanistan, a British Gurkha soldier had single-handedly killed 30 Taliban when the Taliban attacked the Gurkha soldier. The Gurkha soldier received the highest possible honor from the British queen for the bravery the soldier had shown in Afghanistan.

However, the Nepalese officials went to Afghanistan on the charted plane to assess the incident have the different story, the Nepalese media reported. They said that the Taliban had demand a large sum of money from the International Shepard Company but the company simply ignored the Taliban’s demand leading to the blowing up of the bus the Nepalese security guards were riding on to work.

This was not the first time that Nepalese working in other countries had died in such a large number. Twelve Nepalese were killed in Iraq while they were on the way to Iraq for work about 10 years ago. The Iraqi fundamentalists had killed the Nepalese even though they were not combatants; their only fault had been that a western contractor had hired them.

Retired Nepalese army soldiers, armed police and Nepal police officials were attracted to the security jobs elsewhere in the world. They were even more attracted to the high-paid security jobs in the conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and so on. International companies are interested in recruiting the Nepalese former security officials for working in the security of embassies and other office buildings in those conflict countries in view of the sincerity, honesty, faithfulness, and bravery of Nepalese. So, they attracted Nepalese security people paying comparatively high remuneration to the jobs in the risky areas.

Nepalese security officials after retirement from the jobs have been working in such risky and conflict-ridden countries. Some of them had gone even bypassing the regular official channels to work in those risk-prone areas for high remuneration. Most of them made good profits from working there, and made their lives and their families’ too comfortable.

Nothing significant gains could be made without a risk, the economic theory says. It even says, “No risk no gain.”  Risk involved working in such conflict areas is nothing but natural. Even working in the Middle East, Malaysia and other countries also involved risk. Every year a few Nepalese died from either due to the over-work or from exhaustion. Some greedy Nepalese labors opted to work a long hours of overtime for earning maximum possible in a short period of time causing intense exhaustion that might ultimately cause the instant death in sleep. Once, a day’s work is done, they need to rest and recoup for the next day work. That is the way they could keep their body healthy and ready for any work for a long time.

Some Nepalese working abroad for a few years made enough for their lifetime comfort in Nepal. They earned for themselves and for the country too. More than one-third of the Nepalese Gross Domestic Products (GPD) has been the remittances: money sent home from the Nepalese working in the foreign countries in the fiscal year 2015. Such remittances have been instrumental to alleviate the poverty and reduce the people living in poverty. Nepalese in general and the State in particular need to appreciate their contribution to the fast economic development and to the poverty alleviation.

The then Prime Minster Girija Prasad Koirala had opened up the doors for the Nepalese to work in foreign countries. The surplus labor force that would have gone waste if they were to remain idle in Nepal had been cashed sending them to work in the foreign countries. Since then Nepalese working in foreign countries had remitted billions of NPR to Nepal every year. The living standard of the poor had been lifted up due to the job opportunities in other countries. Currently, even highly skilled labors such as accountants, engineers, doctors and nurses have been working in the Middle East and other countries.

Using the prime minister’s Fund for disaster relief, the prime minister needs to pay a certain amount to the families of the victims of the blast in Afghanistan to meet the immediate need of performing the death rites and rituals, and then for the long-term needs of the families for the education of their children for the welfare of their parents and for the smooth running of the lives of their spouses. The government also needs to see whether the families of the victims of the blast receive the insurance amount as insured, and the compensation for the loss of the lives of the loved ones from the recruiting company.

On June 23, 2016, the Council of Ministers has taken the decision on providing one million NPR to the family of each one of the deceased in the Afghanistan blast, and also on stopping the Nepalese labors going to work in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, according to the Radio Nepal’s morning news aired on June 24, 2016. The Council of Minister deserves the admiration for the prompt decision on making at least one million NPR to each family of the deceased security guards working in Afghanistan. However, the second decision is not the wise one taken hastily without considering the consequences.

The government has been prompt to stop anything if it has caused something wrong to the common folks. For example, the government has stopped the one-engine plane from flying passengers after a single engine plane accidentally failed in its engine, and the two pilots had landed the plane in such a way that all passengers were saved at the cost of their own lives. Similarly, the government immediately stopped the import of gas used in the industry when three artisans died in the blast of the gas in Patan recently. Now, the government has stopped Nepalese labors going to work in the four unsafe countries.

Consequences of stopping the single engine aircrafts from flying passengers have been that the passengers flying to the remote areas are denied such opportunity; the companies running such aircrafts have suffered from the business loss. Stopping the import of the industrial gas has surely halted the industries causing the job losses to the artisans, and the business losses to the importers of the gas not to mention the loss to the GDP. Now, stopping Nepalese labors from going to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria has denied the Nepalese willing to go to such countries and earning something for themselves, for their families and for the country, too.

One childish question is whether the Council of Ministers will stop all Nepalese using the stairs if somebody falls from a stairs? Accidents are always prone to everywhere if somebody is not careful enough to follow the security rules. Traffic accidents have been so frequent that no week has gone without reporting a bus or a pickup truck and so on has ran over a motorbike rider. Accidents have been happening because the motorbike riders have been very smart to skip the traffic rules; and the buses and pickup trucks run so fast they are always prone to crush somebody on the way.

June 24, 2016