Nepalese forum: Guardian fabricated Qatar report

A respected human rights organisation in Nepal has dismissed a recent report by the Guardian newspaper as completely baseless. 

The Guardian on Sunday reported the Kathmandu-based Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee (PNCC) would reveal this week that more than 400 Nepalese migrant works have died on Qatar’s building sites as it prepares to host the World Cup. 

"We were surprised to read the Guardian’s reference to our organisiation," the PNCC spokesperson Som Prasad Lamichane told The Peninsula newspaper.

"PNCC is not working on any report and we do not have any such data with us. The newspaper’s claim that PNCC will release a report next week is totally wrong."

Som said PNCC will be writing to the daily to register its strong protest. 

"An equal number of fatalities is happening across the Middle East, including in other GCC countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE," PNCC Vice-Chairperson Kul Prasad Karki said.

"We do not know why The Guardian is focusing only on Qatar."

Som said the Nepalese migrant deaths are reported from across the Middle East since 2008. 

"Of course, it’s a very serious issue for us. But we do not know why the global media is focusing only on Qatar and always tend to connect the causalities to the Fifa-related projects,” Kaul said.

The Nepal embassy sources yesterday told The Peninsula that the mission does not have any data to prove that the causalities had happened at the Fifa-related project sites. 

However, the update of deceased Nepalese labourers in Qatar is worrying. 

A total of 194 Nepalese labourers died in Qatar in 2013. 

Over 70 percent of the fatalities were due to cardiac arrests. 

Reacting to The Guardian’s reports on Nepalese migrant force in Qatar, Nepal’s popular online magazine LA.LIT said: “The Guardian’s facts and statistics have failed to comprehend the core issue. The heart of the problem is the notorious nexus between manpower companies and agents.”

Source: The Peninsula | Image for illustrative purpose only