RIYADH, 22 August 2004 — The Nepalese Embassy here has been instructed by its government to track down the whereabouts of its 12 citizens reportedly abducted in Iraq. The Himalayan Kingdom has no diplomatic representation in war-torn Iraq.
“Although the mission in Islamabad is accredited to Iraq, our mission has also been assigned to look into the details of the kidnapped due to the proximity of the Kingdom to Iraq,” the Charge d’Affaires of Nepalese Embassy, Lok Bahadur Thapa, told Arab News, adding that he is trying to locate the hostages with the help of the Iraqi government.
Thapa said that there is some half a million Nepalese working in the Gulf region, of whom around 250,000 to 300,000 are in the Kingdom. Most of them are laborers working in farms and construction sites, including a few Gorkhas, he added.
“Although there is a strict ban on export of manpower from Nepal to Iraq, some of these workers find their way to Iraq through other countries,” Thapa noted. He said he had received reports that some are also going to Iraq from neighboring India and Jordan.
“We are also trying to find out whether the missing people are Nepalese citizens or are people of Nepalese descent who hold other nationality,” he said.
Thapa assured that he would do his best for the welfare of the Nepalese workers who were alleged to have been kidnapped.
While Nepal does not officially permit its citizens to work in Iraq, thousands are understood to be in the country, mostly employed as drivers, security guards and construction workers with Kuwaiti companies.
An Islamist website posted a statement on Friday from a militant group that said fighters had taken captive 12 “infidels” who were “affiliated with a Nepalese company.” It said the 12 had been helping “US crusader forces to fight Islam” and that their pictures would be published soon. According to other press reports, the kidnapped Nepalese were subcontracted to a Jordanian company and working for the US military in Iraq.
A statement broadcast by state-owned media from Katmandu said a three-member investigation team headed by Works and Labor Secretary Narayan Silwal has been appointed by the Cabinet to investigate the abduction report.
