<p>Their return brings to fore the misery they underwent in the last seven months of their stay in Baghdad and other cities in Iraq.<br /><br />In pursuit of good life and better pay, these youths landed in the hands of local travel agents who lured them with higher salaries and better jobs in Iraq.<br /><br />Sukhwinder Pal, a resident of Punjab’s Jalandhar district, said his father had raised a loan of Rs 2 lakh to arrange for his expenses to work abroad. On January 13 this year, Pal reached Iraq on a promise for a job. Pal said his agent’s counterpart in Basra, a woman, “sold” him to an employer, who took him to another faraway town for work. “I got $200 per month for two months. Last five months, I got nothing as salary,” he alleged. <br /><br />Sukhwinder’s father Joginder Ram, a labourer, had hoped his son would earn enough to look after him in his old age. But now he is happy that his son is safely back home. <br />Pal, however, accused the agents in Iraq of thrashing him and others for bringing to light their doleful predicament to their family members. <br /><br />“They kept us hungry for the last two days. They took away our money and mobile phones. We reached New Delhi from Dubai on Thursday night,” Pal said. <br /><br />Another youth who returned safely on Friday, Vikram Singh, hails from Haryana’s Kurukshetra district. “I had gone there hoping for a good life and more money. I am returning penniless today. I did all menial jobs,” Singh said. <br /><br />He said he was promised a job of $800 per month in a hotel in Iraq, but was forced to live in inhuman conditions.<br /><br />Balbir Singh of Palampur in Himachal Pradesh also narrated similar tale of harassment. Interestingly, the local travel agents paid the expenses for the return of these youths after the issue was highlighted in the media.<br /><br />There are 19 other Indian youths who have approached the Indian embassy in Iraq for help. Majority of them have no means to return home. <br /><br />They are presently under the patronage of the embassy in Baghdad. A petition in this regard has lately been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh. </p>
<p>Their return brings to fore the misery they underwent in the last seven months of their stay in Baghdad and other cities in Iraq.<br /><br />In pursuit of good life and better pay, these youths landed in the hands of local travel agents who lured them with higher salaries and better jobs in Iraq.<br /><br />Sukhwinder Pal, a resident of Punjab’s Jalandhar district, said his father had raised a loan of Rs 2 lakh to arrange for his expenses to work abroad. On January 13 this year, Pal reached Iraq on a promise for a job. Pal said his agent’s counterpart in Basra, a woman, “sold” him to an employer, who took him to another faraway town for work. “I got $200 per month for two months. Last five months, I got nothing as salary,” he alleged. <br /><br />Sukhwinder’s father Joginder Ram, a labourer, had hoped his son would earn enough to look after him in his old age. But now he is happy that his son is safely back home. <br />Pal, however, accused the agents in Iraq of thrashing him and others for bringing to light their doleful predicament to their family members. <br /><br />“They kept us hungry for the last two days. They took away our money and mobile phones. We reached New Delhi from Dubai on Thursday night,” Pal said. <br /><br />Another youth who returned safely on Friday, Vikram Singh, hails from Haryana’s Kurukshetra district. “I had gone there hoping for a good life and more money. I am returning penniless today. I did all menial jobs,” Singh said. <br /><br />He said he was promised a job of $800 per month in a hotel in Iraq, but was forced to live in inhuman conditions.<br /><br />Balbir Singh of Palampur in Himachal Pradesh also narrated similar tale of harassment. Interestingly, the local travel agents paid the expenses for the return of these youths after the issue was highlighted in the media.<br /><br />There are 19 other Indian youths who have approached the Indian embassy in Iraq for help. Majority of them have no means to return home. <br /><br />They are presently under the patronage of the embassy in Baghdad. A petition in this regard has lately been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh. </p>
