Kathmandu. It is mandatory for members of a foreign security agency to take the permission of the Nepal government and fulfill certain protocols while they are on an official visit. It has been learnt, however, that a colonel of the Qatar Armed Forces is on an official visit of Nepal without a legitimate invitation from Nepal government.

He is in Nepal on a seven-day visit without Nepal government’s invitation and receiving thousands of dollars from Nepal as allowance. Nepal government received a formal information of his and his team’s visit only after the recent raids on some manpower agencies, which put them in an odd situation.

The embassy of Qatar in Nepal has written a letter to Nepal government, requesting security for the colonel, dating it a day after the colonel found himself in a messy situation. Interestingly,  the embassy has sought security for him from a day before the incident.

As per the news source, the letter written by the embassy of Qatar dated November 24 was brought for registration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) two days later, on November 26. The Qatar government has sought security of the colonel from November 23.

DCNepal has received a copy of the letter the Embassy of Qatar has submitted to the MoFA, which identifies the colonel as Colonel Dr Mohammad Hamad Omar Alyayadin. He is also the assistant director at the Human Resources Administration of Qatar government’s Ministry of Interior. He is receiving thousands of dollars per day for his visit to Nepal.

The extortionate Qatari Team

Lieutinet Colonel Dr Jamil M Mustafa of the Medical Service Administration, Captain Faisal Saad Bin Sawan of Police Training Institute and Captain Ali Ibrahim Hali Saeed Al Saeed of Human resource Administration are in Colonel Mohammad’s team.

As per the letter of the Embassy of Qatar, they had come to Nepal on November 22 and will return on November 30.

The raid and the disclosure

Nepal government had no information about the new labor demand from Qatar. Before any manpower agency interviews for foreign recruitment, the legitimacy of the demand must be validated by Nepal government.

The government had not provided permission for the interview taken at Hope International Manpower Company on November 23 by the high-level government officials of the Qatar government. It shows that the Qatari officials had come to Nepal to recruit Nepali youths without going through the government channel, avoiding the government procedures.

This utter disregard for the rules of Nepal is detrimental for the friendship between the two countries and such an attack upon the sovereignty of a friendly nation will mar the reputation of Qatar as well, which has formed an image of a developed nation, in the international arena

Minister of Labor Rameshwar Raya Yadav intervened and instructed his officers to save the youths from being swindled when the ministry received the information about around 7000 Nepali youths being recruited through illegal channel.

As the team under Director General Kumar Dahal of the Department of Labor raided Hope International Manpower, the curtain was drawn from the stage. The high-level government officials from Qatar were there. Nepal government knew about the whole drama then only. It had all been a secret affair until then.

It had been revealed a while ago that some manpower agencies were involved in the illicit labor trade forming a syndicate. The Labor Ministry source informs that since few months back, Prabhakar Rana and Hem Gurung of SOS Manpower had been using their connections to bring their covert intentions to fruition. Finally, they had succeeded in doing so by conducting the interview illegally, misleading the Qatari high officials.

The Qatari officials fell for high daily allowance and other lures set by the agents, some say.

The activity carried by the manpower agents and the Qatari government officials is a direct contravention of the process set by the Nepal government. Nepal government has raided Hope International, DD International and SOS Manpower in relation to the case.

Applications from Nepali Army and Nepal Police personnel

As per the information, the agents have even collected applications from the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepali Army personnel persuading them to leave their job assuring them of better options in Qatar. They had even started the selection process.

The working security personnel had been tempted with privileges like a high income of three-six lakh rupees per month and facility to take wife and family to Qatar. The agents had increased the service charge from five-six lakh rupees and had begun bargaining for up to 10 lakh rupees as the applicant number exceeded their expectation.

Correspondence of Qatar Embassy seeking information about the recruitment procedure

Responding to the turn of events, as the raid foiled the illegal selection process and financial dealing; the Embassy of Qatar initially stated that the embassy and the Qatar government were not involved in the case. Two days later, however, the embassy has sent a letter to Nepal government asking about the procedure to be fulfilled to invite officials from Qatar to Nepal for the recruitment process.

Nepal and Qatar signed the labor agreement in 2005. In the 15 years that have passed, hundreds of thousands of Nepali youths have toiled and shed their sweat and tears in the Qatari soil. It seems illogical not to assume that the Qatar government officials are aware of the process.

The fact that the embassy sought information about the process only after the raid and that the ambassador himself had gone to meet the joint secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs makes one more convinced that intentions had not been good  and that the Qatar government knows it too.