Second of August will be remembered in the
history as the most brutal day since on this date in 1990 worst incident took
place, that was, Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Invasion is
always bad and Kuwait’s invasion was not an exception.
My beloved Goa was also invaded by the Indian
Government of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 19th December 1961 without
our consent inflicting heavy damages on Goa and since then Goa is suffering
from innumerable ills making genuine Goans as strangers in their own land. Goa's invasion was welcomed in Goa by the robbers, cheats, criminals and other such Goans of ill repute with big celebrations on the streets by welcoming invading army while those opponents of good repute remained silent, they should have at least come out on to the streets with Black Flags thereby openly opposing Indian intervention in Goa as if Goa was Nehru's father's property. At that time I was very young boy otherwise I would do that.
Every
invasion keeps the invaded country and its people under its bondage, so Kuwait
too and its people were kept totally under Iraq’s bondage. The entire country came to an abrupt halt and
we as expatriates were terrified, trembling with fear knowing not what will
happen to us. We as expatriates came to Kuwait to earn our livelihood but in
the bargain we became victims of this brutal invasion for no fault of ours.
No doubt we were as we are now working very
hard in Kuwait under very harsh circumstances because of our financial stringency. When we work very hard in
this country then only we get our daily bread, Heavenly Manna are not falling for
us to feed our bellies.
India is a rich country but unfortunately inhabited by
poor people and ruled by the most corrupt rulers available on this planet. The
major portion of India’s wealth is cornered by the corrupt politicians and
their families thereby denying to major portion of Indians their share of
wealth. India has vast wealth but its distribution is not done properly for
this reason inequality exists in India. The
poor are becoming poorer while the rich are becoming richer because there is no
proper system of economic governance in India.
For this reason to acquire little more wealth Indians migrate to outside
for greener pastures and in the bargain they suffer as they suffered in the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
We Goans started coming to Kuwait since 1950
and since then the flow of Goans into Kuwait continues though it is very much
thinning now. When we come to Kuwait we come not because we are beggars in Goa
but only to enhance our economic conditions.
When Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2nd
August in 1990 we were caught totally unaware and when I witnessed this
invasion on that day early in the morning then and there I took a decision to
fight against this invasion on ideological ground and on gratitude ground; ideological because my ideology told me what
Iraq did was wrong and as such we must fight to right it and on gratitude
ground because we have gratitude to this country for giving us an opportunity
to earn our sustenance even though we don’t get excellent treatment in this
country from many of the locals who are known to “judge the contents of the
letter by looking at its envelope”.
I said to myself that I will not remain silent to this invasion as my elders remained in Goa when Goa was invaded by India in 1961. I vowed to show our Opposition to Iraq for illegally invading Kuwait and this was what I did in Goa in support of Kuwait against Iraq, of course with the support of our community members.
As unexpectedly to many in India, Kuwait and
elsewhere, under my initiative and stewardship after our returning to Goa from
invaded Kuwait, we Goans joined together and formed an organisation in Goa called
GOA-KUWAIT SOLIDARITY CENTER” to raise our voice from Goa against this brutal
invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. Because of this movement there was heavy pressure
on the government of India in Delhi to change its stance in support of Kuwait’s
liberation. Otherwise in the beginning Indian government was playing the game
of hide and seek.
From Panjim Goa in front of the multitude of people and on behalf
of them, I gave a threat to Indian government in Delhi that if Indian government does not
support Kuwait’s liberation movement we from Goa in thousands will march to
Delhi and ”gherao” the Parliament House forcing Indian government to openly
support Kuwait and condemn Iraq for illegally invading Kuwait.
Saddam Hussein in Iraq was alerted of our
movement in which we organised in Goa public meetings and public rallies which
were covered even by the international media including CNN. Saddam Hussein was annoyed because he was
expecting India would support him, so also some top
Indian “Chamchas” of Iraq stationed in Delhi but our movement proved otherwise; Feelers started pouring in for me
with inducement and also with threats to stop this movement. But I was defying as my
inner circle colleagues.
Then on the eve of our first Public Rally followed by
Public Meeting in Panjim - the capital city of Goa, which was attended even by
the Kuwaitis, three young Arab possibly the emissaries of Saddam Hussein met me
with a request to cancel the scheduled Rally and Meeting with a promise to me of a Signed
Blank Cheque – the amount to be filled in by me. But again I was defying and refusing the
offer, politely. Surprised as they were
for my negative response, they turned back with a threat to my life, to my
wife and to my two children who were young then.
By the grace of God till today no Satanic power
succeeded in executing threats against me and my family. God is protecting us
because I am doing nothing with ulterior motives and for selfish ends. Without expecting any personal gains in
return, we went ahead in organising our movement with the help and
participation of our supporters very successfully in support of Kuwait’s
liberation.
Our movement was the
movement of Kuwait’s expatriates who received no financial assistance from
Kuwait to organise such a massive movement for the benefit of Kuwait. In this
movement we Goans only spent our own money and I spent my own money without
expecting anything from Kuwait because this was not my motto. If money was my
motto, I would have been a Millionaire by accepting that Signed Blank Cheque.
I am an expatriate in Kuwait and as an
expatriate I expect nothing extra from Kuwait expect good treatment as a Human
being. As an expatriate I am not a beggar in Kuwait and I resent treating me as
such. As an expatriate worker I am selling my services for a price. This is only a commercial transaction and NOT A BEGGARY NOR A SLAVERY.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
