HYDERABAD: There are thousands of people from Telangana trapped in the Middle East at any given point of time. Of them, only a handful are able to return home as a result of concerted and laborious efforts by local leaders, the ministry of external affairs and, of course, and with a bit of luck. An 18-year-old beautician, Malan Shaik Noor, who had been trafficked to Kuwait earlier in the year and managed to return to the city a week ago, is one of them.
In April, Malan, a resident of Hafeez Baba Nagar in the city, was offered a job as a beautician in Kuwait by local agents Tasleem Begum, her husband Nawaz and another man Saleem. They promised her a salary of 100 Kuwaiti dinars (KWD), which is equivalent to Rs 25,000, a month.
Malan, whose father works as a painter and was hardly able to support the family of three, readily agreed. The above-mentioned agents arranged a passport, Aadhaar and EPIC for Malan, fudging her age and showing it as 22 years. Her troubles started right after she landed in Kuwait. Soon she realised that there was no beautician job waiting for her.
Rukiya Begum, Malan’s mother, said, “She was taken to Kuwait on May 8 on a visit visa that was set to expire on May 13. Upon reaching Kuwait, she was received by another agent, taken to a remote place in Kuwait and was asked to work as a housemaid.”
Speaking to Express from her house in Hafeez Baba Nagar, Malan Shaikh Noor said, “I was tortured a lot. I was working in four different houses as a housemaid and was also tending to one of the house-owners’ baby simultaneously. I worked for 15 hours at a stretch everyday. They did not even provide me with food. I had to sneak out of the house to get food every time.”
No wonder, the inhuman working conditions took a toll on her health and soon she was taken ill. Her mother said, “Malan was denied medical facilities and, on top of that, was not even allowed to contact us.”
Malan soon realised that she would be in a worse condition if she didn’t look for an exit from Kuwait. “I approached my ‘kafeel’ (sponsor) and asked him to return my passport. I was stunned to hear from him that he had bought me for Rs 3 lakh from the agents and would let me return to India only if I paid him that much money.”
It was then that, one day, she sneaked out of her kafeel’s house when he was away and dashed for the Indian embassy. Meanwhile, back in the city, Malan’s mother Rukiya Begum and her father approached Majilis Bachao Tehreek spokesman Amjed Ullah Khan to help her in the matter. Khan approached the Kanchanbagh police and Minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, highlighting Malan’s ordeal.
Kanchanbagh police station house officer P Rajesh told Express, “We contacted Saleem, one of the agents involved in the case. We asked him to get in touch with his agent in Kuwait and facilitate the repatriation process.”
Saleem got in touch with his field agent in Kuwait and who, in turn, approached the embassy over there. The embassy, where for around two weeks Malan took refuge, helped her by providing with a new passport.
“They made an entirely new passport for me and we did not even have to pay anything,” said Malan, adding that she was currently thinking about taking up further studies.
Uncertain future and prospects
Though the State government has been advising migrant workers to avail UAE’s amnesty scheme, Tomcom GM Nagabharati thinks that it would not be very effective. “It is like a cycle. When these migrants come back, they cannot integrate into the system here, which is aggravated by lack of jobs. Their steady source of income in the Middle East stops when they return. It is often their families who convince them to return in order to maintain their new lifestyle,” she said and added that a majority of migrant workers in the UAE would not want to return to their country for that reason.
Finally liberated
Malan’s parents approached Minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj. And that led to the Indian embassy in Kuwait helping her by providing with a new passport