In the spirit of friendly relations between India and Nepal, the Indian government has agreed to a request made by Nepal to help evacuate its citizens from Iraq.
“Since there is no Nepalese embassy in Iraq, the Nepalese Government has asked us to facilitate the return of their nationals. We have agreed because we have the assets on the ground, we have a responsibility towards our neighbours, and we would be assisting and facilitating Nepalese nationals to the extent possible, based on advice from the Government of Nepal in this context”, said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Nepal has made a similar request to the government of Pakistan and Turkey. “We have asked governments of Pakistan, India and Turkey through diplomatic channels for support in the repatriation of the trapped Nepali workers,” Nepal’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Pandey said.
A “Special Representative” of the government of Nepal has already left for Baghdad help rescue Nepali nationals trapped in conflict-hit Iraq, Republica, a Nepalese daily reported.
Nepal has banned its nationals from travelling to Iraq. It is not known how many Nepalis are currently living and working in Iraq.
In a horrific incident in 2004, Iraqi militant group, Army of Ansar al-Sunna, had captured and brutally murdered 12 Nepali migrant workers, accusing them of coming “from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians”. The video of the murder caused riots in Nepal.
Given the ban, not many illegal workers from Nepal are willing to return from a war-torn Iraq. The West Asian nation is currently in the midst of fighting a vicious insurgency against rebel Sunni jihadist groups who have managed to capture key towns and border crossings in the north and the eastern Iraq.
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