Laxmi Gautam

As many as 100 Nepali migrant workers have been living in fear in the wake of frequent attacks from the local Tamil community at the Kelang-based Kampangjuwa company in Malaysia.

According to Krishna Prasad Acharya, a migrant worker from Nawamidanda, Panchthar, the recent spate of attacks began when an armed Tamil man got killed in a retaliatory attack on Sunday after he broke into a hostel and started attacking a Nepali and other migrant workers living there. Acharya has been working in the company for the past three years.

“We had taken our meal and were about to go to bed when an armed Tamil man barged into our hostel and began attacking us indiscriminately. When our friends retaliated, he got injured and later died in a local hospital,” he said, adding, “We have been witnessing attacks on daily basis from the Tamil group for the past six or seven days.”

Further, according to Acharya, a number of his friends also injured in the latest attack when a pressure cooker bomb, which Tamil men had allegedly planted, exploded outside the hostel.

“After the death of the Tamil man, police have detained five people, including three Nepalis, for a probe, though all of them are innocent,” Acharya said. “Rest of the workers have been taken hostage in the hostel itself.” He lamented that the Nepali embassy has failed to do enough to ensure the security of its nationals working there.

“We reported the matter to the Nepali embassy, but to no avail. They came to the company and spoke to company owners, but did not bother to meet the workers,” he said. Acharya said police have been torturing the detainees.

“After the incident, police have been visiting the hostel quite often to provide security, but when there are no police personnel around, the Tamil men attack us,” he said, adding that about 100 Nepali migrant workers from Ilam, Jhapa, Ramechhap, Saptari and 300 Bengali workers have been staying in the hostel.

They have urged the Nepali Embassy in Malaysia to press for the creation of an environment where they can work without fear.

The Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu has confirmed the incident.

“Some eight workers, including three Nepalis, have been detained in connection with the case,” said Arjun Bahadur Thapa, spokesperson for the ministry, refuting the workers’ account that the embassy staff did not meet them. “We have instructed our embassy in Malaysia to learn about the situation on the ground. In view of their safety, we have advised the workers not to step out of the hostel,” he said.

Published on: 6 July 2013 | The Himalayan Times