LETTERS: It’s a cruel act

Millions of Nepali migrant workers are found legally or illegally working in many parts of the world due to lack of employment opportunities in the country.

So far, the government does not seem bothered about retaining them in the country by creating jobs. Instead, we are happy to collect billions of rupees as remittance from Nepali workers abroad every month.

A number of of these migrant workers are in jail for overstaying and possessing illegal documents. And, some of them are lying on the hospital beds for many months and some of them have become disabled and even lost their lives.

Every Nepali who heard the killings of 12 Nepalis by a suicide blast in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan on Monday morning, must have been shocked, “12 Nepalis killed in Kabul suicide blast” (THT, June 21, Page 1).

There is no appropriate word for condemning such a gruesome and inhuman act while seven other Nepali workers were injured. It is the deadliest attack on unarmed Nepali migrant workers abroad since the brutal murder of a dozen Nepali hostages by an Islamic extremist outfit in Iraq in August 2004.

Many manpower companies and business houses were attacked and destroyed by the people in rage. The government should find out as to why the Nepali migrant workers were targeted in the Kabul attack and whether they were legally working there or not.

It is the duty of the concerned ministry and department to ensure that the other migrant workers in Afghanistan are working in the green zone areas as permitted by the government.

The government should take this attack seriously and ensure that other Nepali migrant workers in Afghanistan will be safe in the coming days.

It is good to know that the government has officially announced that it will give Rs one million as compensation to the families of the killed migrant workers who had gone there through legal channels.

Rai Biren Bangdel, Maharajgunj

This is with reference to news story “Compensation for victims’ kin” (THT, June 21, Page 1). 12 Nepalese were killed on a terrorist attack in Afghanistan.

This news shocked all of us. The victims were deployed at the Canadian Embassy as security guards supplied by a British manpower supplier. It hasn’t been clear that whether the attack was targeted for Nepalese or not.

The families are in trauma. It is good that the families of the migrant workers who were killed in a suicide attack would receive one million as compensation from the Foreign Employment Promotion Board.

In case of Insurance, it is not sure if the migrants had gone through unauthorized channels. However, the migration through unauthorized channels should be prohibited.

These activities directly hampers on individual as well as the whole nation.

Lalita Dulal, Kathmandu