Kuwait to deport 8 lakh foreign workers

Dubai, Aug 22: If media reports are to be believed Kuwait is planning to deport 8,00,000 foreign workers over the next three years. The move is believed to have been triggered by violent protests mainly by Bangladeshi workers in recent months in which employers were also assaulted.

Kuwait had earlier banned recruitment of Bangladeshis but later lifted the ban on diplomatic pressure from Dhaka. The expatriates are to be sent home for committing crimes, being trouble-makers, importing infectious diseases and being marginal labourers, Arabic language daily Al-Watan said attributing the source of information. Foreigners accounted for almost 2.4 million of Kuwait's population of 3.4 million at the end of 2007.

The problem with expatriates is also partly due to very low pay and poor living conditions which has sparked off similar workers' strikes in other Gulf Arab states also. The soaring inflation leaves the workers with nothing to save and only mounting debt.

The news follows a report earlier this month by Kuwaiti daily Arab Times which talked of reviving a residency cap plan for expatriates first mooted by Bahrain.

UNI