Illegal invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein was the great criminal act committed by him on the small and peace loving country Kuwait. Equally great criminal act committed by Saddam Hussein was allowing his soldiers to arrest expatriates in invaded Kuwait while they were going to work and deport them back to their home countries. This was on the first day of the invasion of Kuwait.
One of my friends Royal Agnelo on the day of the invasion of Kuwait was going to work early in the morning in his car along with his colleagues. He was not aware that Iraqi troops have already entered and captured Kuwait. Suddenly at one particular spot while driving to work he was stopped by the Iraqi soldiers. He and his colleagues were surprised of this raid on them. They did not know till that particular moment that the soldiers on Kuwaiti streets who captured them were Iraqis. This was most intriguing moment for them because they had firm belief that Kuwaiti soldiers and also Police force will never arrest them recklessly without valid reason. But finally they accepted the fact. Then they were pulled out from their vehicle keeping it abandoned there only on the road and dumped them like goats into the Iraqi bus and sent them to Basrah for deportation to Bombay after a few days.
During their imprisonment first at Basrah and then at Baghdad they were kept like goats in a very congested room without proper sanitation, food, water and other amenities necessary for their survival. Royal Agnelo’s wife and children were kept in total darkness of where about of him because the inhuman and stone hearted Iraqi soldiers did not even allow him to call his wife at home in Kuwait to inform her of what has happened to him and where he is and many others too who were caught similarly on the streets of Kuwait. Arresting innocent expatriates is one crime while preventing them from calling their families to inform of what has happened to them is another crime. It is not only a crime but a big sin that one can commit against one’s religion. It is also a violation of human right.
Iraq being an Islamic country and also a member of OIC had to maintain certain discipline of Islamic religion which shows lot of compassion for the weak. Islam is a great religion which shows soft corner for the weaker segment of the society. By treating Royal Agnelo and his colleagues in inhuman ways the Iraqi soldiers of Saddam Hussein commited a great mistake.
After my evacuation from Kuwait to Goa, I discussed this criminal act of Iraqi regime with top politicians and Muslim scholars who condemned this inhuman act of Iraqi soldiers against innocent human beings. Some Muslim scholars condemned it saying such treatment to human beings by Iraq was against their religion because Islam forbids such inhuman treatment. According to them Islam is a compassionate religion which treats even captured enemy soldiers in the war with compassion and with human decency and not with Jewish barbarity as Iraqi soldiers did to Royal Agnelo and his colleagues and to others as well.
What they were losing by giving an opportunity to Royal Agnelo and to others with him to phone their family members in Kuwait? By denying the opportunity of phone call Iraqi regime and its soldiers put innocent people into unbearable tension. This was a human right issue and during my involvement in Goa-Kuwait Solidarity movement in Goa in support of the liberation of Kuwait I made lot of noise on this topic to know them how some of the Arabs are treating expatriates in their countries. Somebody even suggested to me to go to Delhi and conduct a Dharna in front of Iraqi Embassy to draw the attention of all of the barbarity of Iraqi regime. A group of people even volunteered to come with me to Delhi to make m;ore noise.
Deportation is ok for law breakers as per the host country’s law but not in inhuman manner. The deported persons should be given the facility to call their family members to inform that they are caught by the security for breaking the law of their countries and that they are going to be deported. This is the civilised manner. But what good one can expect from the brute regime of Saddam Hussein? And on top of it Saddam Hussein took pride in his Muslim religion which otherwise forbids human rights violation. Because of human rights violation lot of expatriates are suffering in many of the countries they work. Treating expatriates with indecency and in an undignified manner is like a curse which God alone can cure.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.