‘Deserted’ man suffers
A 40-year-old man from Hyderabad who has been stuck in the Saudi desert without adequate food and water for a year is suffering from mental illness due to the torture inflicted upon him by his employer.
Mr Md Sadeq went to Saudi Arabia last year, after paying an agent `1 lakh. Since then he has been left in charge of a dozen camels in the desert, where he lives alone. His employer gives him ten litres of water and a little bit of food twice a month.
Mr Sadeq, a resident of Talabkatta in the Old City, went on a “helper” visa in June last year. “We paid `1 lakh to Arshad, an agent from Attapur. He arranged for the visa and said that my son would be paid a monthly salary of `1,200 Saudi Riyal,” says Mr Syed Ali, Mr Sadeq’s father.
Upon his arrival in Riyadh, Mr Sadeq was taken to the Al Hasa province in eastern Saudi Arabia, where was asked to take care of the camels. “My son has called me only twice. Friends who met him in Riyadh said that he was suffering from psychological problems and was in need of urgent medical attention,” said Mr Syed Ali.
The employer visits the camel farm in order to ensure that his animals are healthy and well-fed, but he does not seem to care about Mr Sadeq’s condition. Mr Sadeq has not been paid so far.
Mr Syed Ali tried to reach out to the employer through some relatives. He was told that the employer had paid several thousand Saudi Riyals to the agents for an employee. After going out of reach of his family, Mr Sadeq accidentally bumped into some Hyderabadis working in the area, and they reported back to his family regarding his condition. The family has requested external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for help. Asra Begum, a resident of Hyderabad, has been successfully rescued from the clutches of her kafil in Saudi Arabia after continuous representation by Member of Parliament and president of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi.
Ms Asra Begum had gone to Saudi Arabia in 2016 to work but she was not given proper food nor was she allowed to get adequate sleep.
According to the hapless woman, she was forced to work continuously, without any breaks.
Fed up with the unending harassment, Ms Asra Begum managed to send word to her family of her pitiable condition.
Her family members approached the Hyderabad MP and sought his help to rescue her.
Mr Owaisi wrote to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and also spoke to the consul-general at the Indian consulate in Jeddah and requested them to rescue her from her plight.
The case was followed up and Ms Asra Begum was finally rescued and brought back home. On Monday, she, along with her family members, came to meet Mr Owaisi at the AIMIM headquarters and thanked him for his efforts.