Nepali migrants living tough time in Gulf, Malaysia

POKHARA: Prem BK, a Nepali migrant worker living in Malaysia, was jailed for eight months for his involvement in a minor dispute with his roommates.

BK, a resident of Narchyang-3 of Myagadi district, was in Malaysia for past 14 months in the course of overseas employment.

On December 2, after completing his six-month sentence, BK was released from the jail.

However, he is not in contact with his friends over there yet, informed Deu Bahadur BK, father of the youth.  The father only knows that Prem got into the problem due to some immigration issues.

So, here in Pokhara of neighbouring Kaski district, relatives and family members of Prem are regularly visiting and pressuring the Foreign Employment Counselling Centre to bring this son back.

On Wednesday also, Deu Bahadur visited Safe Migration Counselling Centre of Kaski seeking support to bring his son back in a safe condition. A counsellor Juna KC assured him that he could contact the missing son soon.

Not only Deu Bahadur, but many such relatives of the youth who are overseas for employment in the Gulf countries and Malaysia, visit the Centre seeking solutions to different problems.

Counselor KC informed that people visit the office with a range of issues including not getting jobs as assured by the recruitment agencies, abuse, restrictions in communications, physical assault and sexual assault including rape.

In the fiscal year 2014/15, more than 14,000 people received passports in Kaski district, out of which more than 10,000 were men.

The government records say among them 3,750 men and 248 women embarked on overseas employment, mainly in the Gulf countries and Malaysia.

In the current fiscal year, 159 women and over 1,700 women left the district for employment.

Nearly five million Nepali migrants are working abroad, informed the Centre.