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MUSCAT Around 5,700 Indians on expired employment visas will soon be allowed to leave Oman, if everything works out as planned by the authorities concerned and the Indian Embassy here, reliable sources told the Times of Oman yesterday.
This major move has sent ripples of excitement in not just the social workers camp here, but also at the Indian Embassy and the Indian Social Club (ISC).
For the 5,700 Indians concerned, this was the news that they have been hoping and praying for. And their dream, however belated, is going to come true soon.
Oman, which recently allowed all expatriates on expired visit visas to leave by this December 31, has now given this great chance to Indians on expired employment visas who had registered with the Indian Embassy to start life afresh back in their home country.
The modalities of this issue are yet to be worked out. These include issues like what is the fine that these
Indians should pay, who would be the ones who would be let off and similar queries.
This is neither an amnesty nor a blanket move that accommodates expatriates on expired employment visas from other communities. This is an Indian-only issue, because the process of this has been on for some time now and this is just a culmination of the efforts, the interaction between the Indian Embassy and the authorities concerned which has begun since last November when the registration process of these Indians began.
While this is totally unofficial and there has been no news on this front from any official source, Indian media, especially Kairali and Asianet, yesterday flashed this news based on the information that they had received from reliable Indian sources.
Apparently, the Indian Embassy thanks to the incessant drive by committed social workers of the ISC, their wing members and, to a certain extent, members of unregistered Indian bodies/groups like KMCC and
Priyadarshini Cultural Centre has been pushing this cause in a major way.
While concerted efforts have been there since a long time (especially by the one-man army and committed social worker like P.M. Jabir, community welfare secretary of the ISC), the crunch came recently when a prominent Indian here, who was feting a visiting Indian minister, took the issue on full throttle and raised it yet with the authorities concerned. And the next thing was that this pending issue was given the approval.
Like the proverbial last-minute push, this late last week move has given joy to thousands of Indians who had been waiting to go back home.
The Times of Oman yesterday spoke to Dr Satish Nambiar, chairman of the ISC, to garner his views on this major news: It is fantastic! This is thanks to a major effort of the ISC, and most importantly praise is due to Jabir, who has at times single-handedly championed this cause. I would say that from the ISCs viewpoint, he is the
chief architect of this whole issue!
He added: Its an endeavour of the ISC and we have been following it up very seriously. Jabir has been on this project since the very beginning and all praise to him for this major development.
This is an achievement of massive proportions. We have all been waiting for it and once again I would like to say that it is thanks to the benevolence of the government of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Thanks to them, many Indians will now be allowed to start their lives afresh!
We are all happy with this news. I would like to reiterate the point on how Jabir has been totally focused on this issue. Earlier, he was with the Kerala Wing where his role as a social worker had its natural limitations. Today, as ISCs community welfare secretary, he is authorised to do this. We have given him a freehand to push the issue in the right manner to the authorities concerned.
I would also like to thank the efforts of the role
played by Mohamed Ali, managing director of Galfar. I would like to place on record mine and the ISCs gratitude to him for his excellent role in achieving this major move. We are really grateful to him!
Again, this result is an achievement that is probably symbiotic in nature, of each helping the other, Dr Nambiar added.
S.N. Gopakumar, member of the Malayalam Wing, who has also been pushing this cause on an individual basis, yesterday showered praise on the Indian Embassy for what he said was a job well done! And thanks to the Omani government. They are truly great. We wholeheartedly thank them and the Indian Embassy, which has done a fantastic job. Kudos to the Indian ambassador and his wonderful team. But, again, let this not be news which is misleading to the public. This is not an amnesty. It is only for these registered Indians. Let no one misunderstand this.
Members of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) yesterday heaped praise on Indias
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs E. Ahmed and Mohamed Ali. We had given a memorandum to E. Ahmed in this regard, including a list we had prepared, sometime back.
The minister was in town on an unofficial visit, and he was present at an Iftar party at the house of Mohamed Ali here last Thursday. During this occasion, we had contacted the minister and broached him on this issue. It was during this occasion that Mohamed Ali spoke to the authorities concerned in the presence of E. Ahmed. Within days, this long-awaited event has materialised, almost out of the blue! We are overjoyed, Shameer P.T.K., secretary, and Ashraf T. C., treasurer, told the Times of Oman.
We had played a role in this regard and we would like to acknowledge the role played by others too in this issue, they added.
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