Miscellaneous
PM wants more rigour in security assessment
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed the authorities concerned to make rigorous assessment of potential security risk before allowing Nepali migrants to go to work in Afghanistan.Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed the authorities concerned to make rigorous assessment of potential security risk before allowing Nepali migrants to go to work in Afghanistan.
PM Dahal said this on Tuesday while receiving a report on the security situation of Nepali migrants working in Afghanistan. The report, based on a field study, recommends that the government partially allow Nepali migrants to go to work in Afghanistan if the concerned employers pledge proper security measures for their safety and well-being. The government had formed a five-member taskforce under Tritha Raj Aryal, Nepal’s acting ambassador to Pakistan, to assess the security situation of the Nepali workers following the June 20 suicide attack in Kabul that claimed the lives of 13 Nepali security guards.
“Our main focus should be the security and well-being of the workers. The government cannot compromise on their safety in the name of lifting the ban,” Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Employment Bishnu Prasad Lamsal quoted Dahal as saying. The PM said the government was committed to making required reforms in the laws as recommended by the report.
Lamsal, a member of the team that submitted the report, said the Cabinet would take a concrete decision about implementing the findings. Labour Ministry officials hinted that there could be a partial lifting of the existing ban. A member of the taskforce told the Post that a majority of workers they interviewed in Afghanistan had suggested lifting the ban, arguing that it was exposing the potential workers to resort to risky measures to reach there.
Hundreds of workers are believed to have left for Afghanistan through informal channels even after the Kabul incident. The government had imposed a blanket ban on Nepali workers from going to Afghanistan three days after the suicide attack. Earlier, the government had been issuing travel permit to workers going to work in the selected employers, including the United Nations, foreign missions and other international agencies. While a few hundred Nepali workers returned home following the attack, an estimated 20,000 Nepali workers are still believed to be working in Afghanistan.