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Tortured, deported as they asked for just pay

Non-agitating Bangladeshi workers not also spared by Kuwaiti cops

Porimol Palma
Mukul Hossain was asleep at the company's barrack that day. Like thousand other aggrieved workers, his monthly salary was only 20 Kuwaiti dinar, but he didn't join demonstrations thinking it might affect his livelihood.
His cautious move didn't work. The Kuwaiti police arrested him on charge of taking part in the demonstrations over pay hike. He was beaten so hard that he suffered a broken scull. Eventually he was deported empty-handed, says Mukul, who hails from Sirajganj.
"The KD 20 was not enough even for my survival in Kuwait. Yet I continued with the job with the hope of making a buck from some
extra work for my family," adds Mukul, who was deported on August 1 along with many others.
Thousands of Asian workers, especially Bangladeshis, went on strike in the Gulf nation last week. The Kuwaiti authorities arrested over 1,000 and decided to deport 850 Bangladeshis fortheir 'involvement'.
The authorities had assured the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait City of not arresting or deporting any innocent workers. But statements of Mukul and some other workers suggest most of the deportees kept their nose clean.
Saiful Islam of Narsingdi and Jamal Hossain. Labu Mia and Arjun of Tangail also had similar experience.
Mukul was employed by the company Al Abras and was stationed at Mahbullah. He said, "I was sleeping in the barrack when many workers went on strike outside. Suddenly the police entered our barrack and started beating up us."
The military arrested them and forced them to sit on hot sand for one and a half hours before putting them into detention cell.
"In the cell, tl^police treated us as if we were animals. They beat up with strong rods whenever anyone tried to speak or stand up in the rooms crowded with six to seven hundred workers."
Mukul added he had not a single penny when he returned home.
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“Can you imagine how the expectations of my family, my children were shattered when I returned empty-handed and injured from that cloud-cuckoo-land after two years?" he asked.
Another deportee Tafazzal Hossain of Tangail who was one of the few workers to get KD 40 for higher rank was playing computer games on July 26 when the Kuwaiti police entered their barrack.
"I knew Kuwaiti police don't like strike. As my wage was moderate, there was no question of going on strike. But still we were arrested, beaten up and deported," he said.
The police and army couldn't arrest many of the real demonstrators on the street because they were free and ran away, he added.
"The authorities now took revenge on those who were in the barracks. Several hundred workers were injured in cop beating and rubber bullets, but nobody was there to look after them.
"You can't imagine how the workers felt when they were forced to sit on the hot sand where candle stick melts. If you notice carefully, you'll find the workers arriving in the airport arc stumbling.'
It is reported in the media that the Kuwaiti police are identifying demonstrators from video footage, but actually they videotaped the workers when they were in the detention cell. Tafazzal said.
Jamal Hossain of Tangail. said, "We did not go to Kuwait to go on strike. Our salary was so small that we could not survive on that. If any of us are guilty, punish us, but don't punish the innocent. Make neutral investigation before punishingus."
Bangladesh Embassy Labour Counsellor in Kuwait Shahriar Kader Siddiky earlier told The Daily Star over phone the authorities had assured them of not arresting or deporting any innocent worker.