Fear has gripped the hearts of many expatriates in Kuwait mainly those law breakers whose residence permits are not in order, traffic rules violators and those who reside and work in Kuwait illegally. These days everyday number of expatriates are caught and deported to their countries of origin. In this campaign by the personnel of Interior Ministry many Indians are caught, some are according to the available news deported immediately as per the gravity of the offence. According to information some expatriates were deported even without the notice of their families in Kuwait though I find it extremely difficult to believe it in the absence of concrete evidence because Kuwait is not a country that indulges in such inhuman and cruel deportation like Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
Citing an example of inhuman deportation by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, I have to mention here that on the first day of the invasion of Kuwait on 2nd August 1990 when Saddam Hussein’s soldiers after invading Kuwait caught on the road many expatriates going to work. Among these expatriates there was one of our Goan brothers Royal Agnelo who along with others was not only without any reason caught and sent to Baghdad but from Baghdad sent direct to Bombay without even giving him an opportunity to inform his wife and children back at home in Kuwait of whereabouts of him.. Agnelo’s family in Kuwait for so many days were suffering from tension strokes not knowing what has happened to Agnelo, whether he was alive or dead. This type of inhuman behaviour suits Saddam Hussein’s soldiers but surely not for Kuwaitis if the news circulating around on this topic is true.
Kuwait is known to be a compassionate country in the Gulf and not brute like Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to indulge in cruelties towards poor expatriates. Overwhelming majority of expatriates in Kuwait are poor and just because they are poor they come to Kuwait for better gains. They are coming to Kuwait not because they were dying in their countries; they are coming to Kuwait to sell their services in return for Dinars. They are human beings and children of the same God and as such they should be treated like human beings and not like the way Saddam Hussein’s Military personnel treated.
Kuwait is not a place for financially rich expatriates and intellectually advanced. For this reason these poor expatriates should be treated with pity and compassion while punishing them with deportation. They are neither criminals nor terrorists. They came to Kuwait thru legally obtained Visas for which many of them paid hundreds of Dinars to their sponsors who should also be held responsible for bringing these expatriates and leaving them on the road instead of providing them the jobs. These sponsors are the first who come to know of the expiry of the residence permits of these expatriates in which case they should take appropriate action in the right time before it becomes chronic. Now the situation is become chronic where innocent expatriates may also have to suffer. May God alone guide us in the right direction.
During my 3.5 decades in Kuwait, this is the first time I see such a ruthless and massive campaign done by the Kuwait government to rid Kuwait of expatriates who are staying illegally and working illegally. Also in this campaign falls Traffic rule violators and other law breakers. The fear in the residence permit violators is such that having no option to hide from the view of the security personnel who even come to the houses of expatriates at night time, one of them was caught hiding in the bucket as seen in the photo above.
I don’t blame the authorities in trying to rid Kuwait of illegals and law breakers but I only pray for little decency and compassion. No expatriate wants to settle in Kuwait permanently. Nobody wants to make Kuwait his permanent home, everybody wants to return to his home country otherwise expatriates would have stayed in Iraq invaded Kuwait but instead they preferred to leave from invaded Kuwait immediately following the invasion by Iraq.
I pray to God to guide us all in the right direction and He alone will help us in this critical situation.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
