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E D I T O R I A L
A special Report on the growing number of abuse cases against Indian Workers, especially Keralite Woman in Saudi Arabia is prepared by V.M.Sathish and R.S.Priya based on the Human Rights Watch Investigation report. It reveals many untold stories of poor Gulf Malayali families awaiting the uncertain return of their bread earners. Relatives of many Keralites executed in Saudi Arabia for drug smuggling are yet to know that their near and dear is no more in this world. Many housemaids who migrate to the Gulf region are abused daily... husbands are keenly awaiting their safe return. Innocent children expect their Gulf malayali father to return with sweets and gifts. Parents of missing Keralites expect their son to return. Relatives of the deceased expect their mortal remains to be send home for a decent burial.
Acknowledging the importance of the report to Gulf Keralites, KM is publishing it in full. We believe that what is happening in Saudi Arabia happening in other Gulf countries too. Even though there may be differences in degree, the labour abuse problem persists in each Gulf country. KM welcomes the Saudi Government announcement to look into the problems and take remedial measures.
No other regional of Kerala media have reported it in detail. As usual KM is always ahead of others with such stunning stories. KM has ocassionally published blatant human rights violation stories and it is high time that the government authorities react strongly to such reports. Our political leaders frequent Saudi Arabia and Gulf region almost every second day but remain mute spectators to such issues. They have developed many vested interests - recruiting agents, visa sales and even woman supplies for the prostitution racket. Their latest fantacy is to visit the five star and seven star hotels to enjoy prostitutes of different nationalities as a reward for fixing things back home. They are part of the drug mafia which trapped many illiterate Malayalis into death trap. Often migrant workers are used as carriers of drug, gold and hawala money.
Whether it is in the notorious Abu Gharib prison of Baghdad or the labour camps in Saudi Arabia, the problem is same - Human Rights Violations. The report does not mean that the western world is free from such abuses. We have seen digital images of western respect for human rights in Iraq.
Indians have great sympathy for the Arab world, but such reports may create negative opinion about the region. Many employers and officials in the GCC region are sympathetic towards Indian workers. Most of them are professional employers. Therefore the report should be considered as only a part of the story as thousands of our countrymen happily live and work for well reputed business hosues and government establishments in the GCC region.
EDITOR
(click for detailed reports)
Click to Read extracts from the 135 page report on on Bad Dreams, Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia : Abuse of Migrant Workers Special Report Click
Drugs and Cosmetics Act Amendment to award death penalty for offences related to spurious drugs More News India News
Bomb Hoax Disrupts Standard Chartered Bur Dubai head Office for 3- Hours
By V.M.Sathish
DUBAI - July 15, 2004 A bomb hoax has created temporary panic and confusion at the UAE headquarters of Standard Chartered bank, one of the leading western multinational banks with operations in different Middle Eastern countries. The three hour security alert which started from 8.30 am ended at 11.30 as the bank security could not locate any dangerous explosives in the building premises. According to an official spokesman of Standard Chartered Bank Bur Dubai office, there was a bomb hoax about half an hour after the bank opened its door for business. Full Report
State Government Did not give Halcyon Palace! Private Group markets it to Celebrity tourists!!! More Todays News Dubai News
Hospitality sector to lead Dubai's knowledge economy transition, Madar Research More
Bin Belaila Baytur signs agreement to construct Shoreline Apartments on The Palm Jumeirah
KM EXCLUSIVE - Always Ahead with Breaking News.
Bad Dreams: Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia Report, July 15, 2004
India is More corrupt than America, But Borrow American System to clean up India?
by R.S.Priya
Thiruvananthapuram - According to Prof. Paul Peretz, the American Administrative setup is to a certain extent privatized and the whole city is managed by 'City Managers'. In California, there is the concept of "City Managers", who is a person who knows the problems faced by the public and how the problems could be solved. The City Managers are people who have proper training and knowledge about the city and about what needs to be done to solve the problems that arise in a city. Full Report
CIS Offers Economical Medical Engineering Courses for Kerala Students
St Petersburg - One of the most important features of the medical courses in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is the fee-structure of these courses. The students could now avail education in these fields at quite an affordable fee range. It would be especially beneficial for the middle class community which ventures more into these fields. There would be only yearly fee and no donation or capitation. The medium of teaching would be in English as well as Russian. The Indian Community and especially the Malayalis there would now be able to take the benefits of the courses that are being offered. There are various Malayalam Samajams and malayali students associations, which would help malayalis there - Watch this space.
July 15, 2004
Special Tribute by M.P. P Kumar to V.S.Achuthananthan Oppositon leader who has exposed many sensitive scandals that changed kerala politics... Full Report
Sex claims 'bankrupt US archdiocese' M.P.Prasanna Kumar column in Malayalam
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK
EXCELS WITH EXCLUSIVE WEALTH MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMEStandard Chartered Bank, one of the leading international banks in the UAE, has launched an exclusive wealth management programme - Excel Banking for their customers with a relationship value exceeding AED 100,000. Excel Banking aims to deliver fast-track services, personal attention and preferential pricing in addition to exclusive offers on banking products and services
Couples Online
Ten Omani students embark on summer training programme in Bahrain Sex claims 'bankrupt US archdiocese' M.P.Prasanna Kumar column in Malayalam
Discuss: Indian International School Jeddah discriminates against Keralite Students? More and News
Drug Addiction Rampant in India Contact US gulfmonitor@dubaimediacity.net
Dubai Service and Products
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Breaking News Click to enter News Page
Human Rights Watch Discloses Tragic Story of Abdul Kareem and other Keralite workers who were Behaded in Saudi Arabia
Jeddah - Nazeema, a twenty-seven-year-old Indian Muslim who is the mother of two children, still believes that her husband Abdul Kalam will be returning any day from Saudi Arabia. Her relatives did not tell her about the letter that Abdul Kalam’s father received from the Indian embassy, dated February 8, 2003. The letter informed him that Abdul Kalam was executed on June 18, 1999 for alleged heroin smuggling. Abdul Kalam Azad Abdul Kadir, a native of the Palakkad district in Kerala state, went to Saudi Arabia for the first time in the early 1990’s and worked for three years as an agricultural laborer. His family told us that he sent them 2,000 to 3,000 rupees every few months. When he returned home, he got married. In 1997, when Abdul Kalam was thirty-five years old, he traveled to Mumbai with six other Indian workers and an “agent” from Tamil Nadu to secure another employment visa to the kingdom. Full Report More Stories from Saudi Arabia
Saudi Employer offered to pay her if she masturbated him, said it is not a haram!!!
In addition to her long days of work, Fatima endured the shock and humiliation of three serious incidents of sexual harassment and one beating from her male employer. She told Human Rights Watch that twice he exposed himself to her and offered to pay her if she masturbated him. “I refused. I told him that I want money in the right way. I told him I am not a prostitute, but a married woman and a Muslim,” she said. After these rejections, “he held a knife to my neck and threatened to kill me if I told the madame [his wife].” Fatima provided details about the last and most traumatic incident, on a day etched in her memory: June 8, 2003:I was mopping the floor in the salon. He came in and asked for water. When I gave it to him, he dropped it on the floor and told me to clean it up. Then he took off his thobe and said to me, “Take this.” It was his penis. He told me, “It’s good, I want to marry you, I love you, I want to support your children.”I said no. I said I’m a Muslim and it is haram. I left and ran upstairs. He came after me, saying it was not haram. He closed all the doors and punched and beat me. He said: “Don’t push me to do something bad.”He locked the door to her bedroom before he left the house. Fatima sought shelter in her bathroom and locked the door. “I was praying, and crying, and stayed there all night,” she said. More about Abuse of Asian Woman Workers in Saudi Arabia. Also story of a housemaid abused by a Royal Family member...Full Report
Story of Keralite/Philippino Housemaids in Saudi Arabia Sexual Abuse and Harassment
Rajila, an unmarried Muslim woman from Kerala told Human Rights Watch how she and hundreds of other Asian women maintenance workers were subjected to exploitative labor conditions and, when they were not on the job, forced confinement. Rajila accepted a job in Saudi Arabia when she was thirty years old, with a plan to support her widowed mother and five unmarried younger sisters. She left her village without a written contract, on the verbal promise from a local travel agent that she would earn a monthly salary of 600 riyals, about $160, as a cleaner. She paid the agent 35,000 rupees -- about $770 -- for her legal employment visa and other costs, a sum that she borrowed. Rajila said that nine other Indian women joined her on the flight to Saudi Arabia
Rape of Asian Housemaid Rampant in Saudi Homes
On the morning of June 2, 2003, Melda was cleaning the hallway on the second floor when Rashid walked out of his bedroom, naked. “I was frightened. He grabbed me and pushed me down on the floor. I was shouting and crying. He told me that he would kill me if I said anything to his wife,” she said. She could not describe the details but told Human Rights Watch that she tried to fight Rashid as he raped her. “He finished,” she said, shaking, “and then went into his room, closed the door, and ignored me. I washed myself, stopped working, and waited for my madame to come home.” On June 11, 2003, Rashid raped Melda for the second time. She said that she was cleaning the guest room on the first floor and Rashid entered, locked the door, and pushed her to the floor. “He pulled down his pants to his ankles. He grabbed me so strongly that it hurt and I was crying. I was fighting him until I felt no more energy,” she said. He raped her and remained in the room with her several hours, until it was almost time for his wife to return home from work, Melda said. She suffered this abuse in silence, with no confidence that the police or anyone else could help her. Full Report
"I am the Group MD of Teejan Group," Ameer Ahmed.
"Even though I am shifted to Dubai, I keep visiting Muscat once or twice a month, as I continue to be the Group Managing Director of the parent company, Teejan Trading & Contg. Co. LLC, Sultanate of Oman, said Ameer Ahmed, Prominent Non Resident Keralite businessman from Oman. In response to a news item appeared in KM, the professional executive has claimed that KM did not follow basic journalist ethics in writing about him. Teejan is a diversified business group. We have grown, from humble beginnings, over the years, to the present stature, of a multi-disciplinary, multi-national group of companies. Teejan aspires to grow bigger, and from strength to more strength for which we have been scouting around and have found our neighbouring country Dubai to be a potential location. That is the major reason for the move. In Teejan Group, I am an official investor. Besides investment in Oman, my Omani partner and me also have investments in India as well as in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. We are having businesses in Dubai for the last 12 years, which probably Kerala Monitor is not aware of. It is only to expand the business further I have now moved. Read the Full Report
Bomb Hoax in Standchart Dubai Head office
KM Exclusive by V.M.Sathish
DUBAI - July 15, 2004 10.A.M.A bomb hoax has created panic and confusion at the Middle East headquarters of Standard Chartered bank, one of the leading western multinational banks with operations in different middle eastern countries. According to KM Sources, the bomb hoax in the early morning has affected the regular banking operations as the Dubai police special squad started search operations. Bank customers could not conduct any transactions as the authenticity of bomb scare is yet to be verified. It may be noted that Dubai, a regional business has been relatively calm, when the rest of the region is witnessing turbulent militarncy and terrorism. The UAE authorities have tightened security in public paces like mega shopping malls, airports and other strategically important locations.Dubai has been a safe haven for western expatriates fleeing from intense violence in the neighbouring Saudi Arabia....tHE Security evacuated the building and the search is on, said a senior Standchart source...Watch this space.
No Need to Panic: Standard Chartered Bank..
KM Exclusive - The Security team of Standard Chartered Bank determined in consultation with the police to evacuate nearly 500 employees of the Dubai Head office. "The security made a thorough check up and found out that there was nothing of concern," said a bank spokesman Niall Meloughlin, head of corporate communications, Standchart Dubai. According to KM sources the bank with mainly western expatriate staff is expected to resume normal functioning at around 11 am and the management did not want to spread the wrong message which may create panic among other bank employees and customers. The bomb hoax came after 9 AM when most of the employees entered the bank premises. ..Watch this space.
BMW Car withstand Crash Test..More
Gulf Air Oman Country head resigns in a hurry..More Airline heads reshuffle in Muscat...More
Biju Abel bags coveted award
DUBAI - The upcoming Malayalam TV journalist Biju Able Jacob, producer of Gulf Round Up Programme of Asianet TV Dubai, has been awarded this years Chirantha Puraskaram (Chirantha Prize) given by Chiranthanam Samskarika Vedi, UAE. The young journalist from Kerala working in Asianet Dubai Bureau is given the prestigious award in recognition of the human interest stories presented in Gulf Round Up, a half an hour popular news programme. The past chiranthana award winners include Professor B. Mohammed Ahmed, Vice Chairman Folklore Academy, Kerala and M.C.A.Nasar Bahrain Bureau Chief, Gaulf Madhyamam. More
Ohh!! Rajagopal denies BJP Involvement in Handing over Kovalam Palace to Galfar
O.Rajgopal - BJP is not involved, read I am not involved" But What was he doing in Muscat during a Private Visit? Did he accept Galfar Hospitality? More
Advocates of war now profit from Iraq
Lobbyists, aides to senior officials and others encouraged invasion and now help firms pursue reconstruction contracts; More
India Stopped Emigration Clearance to Iraq two months Back
NEW DELHI - The Government has suspended emigration clearance to Indians going to Iraq from April 15, 2004. This was stated by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Shri Sis Ram Ola in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today Full News and More Reports
Counterfeit Visa Racket
DNRD busts fake visa racket, arrests three persons
DUBAI - July 12, 2004 The Investigation and Control section of Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) has busted a racket involving production and supply of counterfeit employment visas and arrested three accused, while the fourth is still absconding. More
Blair and Scarlett told me Iraq had no usable weapons!!!
When I asked him why we believed Saddam would not use these weapons against our troops on the battlefields, he surprised me by claiming that, in order to evade detection by the UN inspectors, Saddam had taken apart the shells and dispersed them -with the result that it would be difficult to deploy them under attack. Not only did Saddam have no weapons of mass destruction in the real meaning of that phrase, neither did he have usable battlefield weapons. Read an interesting report from the Guardian.Galfar asked to Replace the Damaged Wall of Kovalam Palace Antony, Rajagopal Smart liers
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Muzhukkala G. Prabhakaran, President of Vizhinjam Grama Panchayat has asked the Galfar group to reinstate the dismantled compound wall and the Padippura of Halcyon Palace, a historical monument illegally occupied by the group.
April 2004 Reports Click
Dubai Woman of the week
Salam International sponsors Nada Zeidan, first Qatari female rally driver Full Report
Take Back Kovalam Palace and Adjacent Land from Galfar Group: V.S.Achuthananthan
V.S.Achuthananthan..Angry
Dr.P.Mohammed Ali..Dont Care
A.K.Antony Mr.Clean
Thiruvananthapuram July 6: Leader of Opposition V.S.Achuthananthan has urged the state government to take back the ownership and control of Kovalam Palace and 10 acres of adjoining land, which was fraudulently usurped by the Oman based Galfar group headed by the Pravasi Bharathi Award Winning Non Resident Indian businessman Dr.P.Mohammed Ali.State Tourism Minister P.Shankaran has said in a statement in the state assembly that the government has not taken any decision to hand over Kovalam Palace to the Galfar group. He was responding to an important submission by the opposition leader V.S.Achyuthanandan about the controversial deal that gave ownership of the palace to a private individual. Full Report and More News
KM Exclusive
Gods Own Country goes Online with the Devil
Special Investigative Report by KM editorial team Dubai& Aswathi Nair( Kerala) on Growing Cyber Sex Culture among Keralite Girls and Gulf Malayalis
DUBAI-Even though the Kerala society is overtly conservative and the taboo surrounding sexual relation between opposite sexes is still strong, the Internet is revolutionizing man-woman relationship.This is more evident in Kerala chat rooms, especially the most popular Kerala Chatrooms hosted by the multinational company Yahoo.com. While Yahoo officially denies facilitating the transmission of explicitly sexual video contents, many Keralites using the room are using the same for cyber sex. A casual visit to the Kerala rooms will reveal that many young men and women use the chat room courting romantic partners to indulge in cyber sex. Sarika, a 24 years old post graduate with a B.Ed degree is the elder daughter of an engineer working for the Public Works Department. She is waiting for her posting soon and often feels bored at home. . Read the Full Report
\- Kovalam Palace Theft
- Talented Malayali
- Dr.Sreekumar handles brush and stethascope simultaneously -Watch
Michael Fisher Journalist Dubai has joined Mediana. He has worked for the Bahrain based Gulf Industry, Gulf Daily News the Indian Post, Independent and other leading publications...Michael hails from Goa in India.
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