Contrary to government claims that there are no Nepalis in Syria, two Nepali migrant women are reported to have been missing there for over a year. 

It has been learnt that Laxmi Gurung, 36, of Pokhara and Huma Magar, 39, of Baglung sneaked into the war-torn country illegally despite the government ban on Nepalis to go there for employment. Both of them had gone there as housemaid. 

A source said that Gurung and Magar went to Syria through discreet ‘setting’ at the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu on July 15, 2012. “Laxmi had called her family in December 2012 upon reaching Aleppo, a Syrian city which borders Turkey. That was the last time we have had contact with her,” said Laxmi’s brother Keharjung Gurung.

Keharjung added that he approached the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and Nepali diplomatic mission in Egypt which looks after affairs in Syria for help, but without success. 

It has been 20 months since Laxmi and Huma have gone missing and we still do not have any information about their whereabouts, he said. 

According to him, the counsellor section at the Foreign Ministry had assured him that they would launch an inquiry through Nepali embassy in Egypt into the matter. 

He said he would approach Syrian Embassy in New Delhi through a diplomatic channel in a desperate bid to trace the missing duo. 

He informed that Huma had gone to Syria along with Laxmi, adding that the two had gone to Syria with the help of a man called Mohammad. 

Media reports suggest around 150,000 Syrian people have been killed in the conflict, with as many are reported missing. An international immigrant organisation said that some people might have been taking shelter in neighbouring Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. However, the fact that whether the figure includes Nepalis or not is unknown. An official at the Nepali mission in Cairo said they knew that some Syrian people  had fled to Lebanon but that they had no information on the missing duo.

Published on: 23 February 2014 | The Kathmandu Post