Embassy seeking consular access to Indians held in Kuwait

Indian Embassy in Kuwait is seeking consular access to over 1,000 Indians who have been detained by the authorities in the Gulf nation in an alleged case of visa misuse, a top official has said.

Vidhu P Nair, Charge de Affaires at the Indian Embassy in Kuwait, said that the Embassy has managed to track down and collate documents of around 650 Indians.

"All Indians with valid documents, whose sponsors are showing up, will be released while the remaining may be deported to India. Some of these people have already been released while others are being dealt with on a case to case basis," Nair told PTI.

He said five officials from the Embassy are constantly pursuing the matter.

On Wednesday, Kuwait's Ministry of Interior arrested over 2,000 individuals across the country for expired residency and involvement in drug, theft, liquor and other such cases during impromptu security campaigns.

Around 1,800 of these are believed to be Indians even though the exact number is unclear.

"We were not officially informed about any such crackdown, neither did the local authorities contact us for any kind of identification," said Nair.

According to him, Embassy officials have managed to reach the local deportation and detention where the largest number of Indians is being held.

"A lot of them were also kept in police stations of areas where these raids were conducted," he said, adding officials from the embassy will be visiting these police stations soon.

Nair said the crux of the problem is people coming on domestic visas and working elsewhere.

"Kuwaiti government wants to send these people (with visas to work as domestic help) back to their sponsors because they are not supposed to work outside the household. It is a violation of (Article 20) their visa rule," said Nair.

He, however, said the embassy has raised concerns about the situation these workers find themselves in and has written to Kuwait's Ministry of Interior and other local government officials relevant to the matter.