Homeland: Dehydrated deportees from Oman land up in hospital

The men made their way to Karachi after a three-day boat trip.

KARACHI: Several dehydrated men – near ready to faint – with bruises and skin diseases landed up in the Civil hospital on Thursday. The men, who are from different cities, had been in Karachi for the first time but their debut trip was made in a harrowing state.

The men had been deported from Oman and had reached Keamari in a launch. One person who was on board described the three-day journey as the worst experience of his life. “There were 600 men packed one over the other in a ship of half the capacity.  Our food was a meagre meal of a small roti with boiled beans,” said Mohammad Rafique. His friend quickly opened his bag to produce a piece of hardened pita bread to show what they had been fed.

He was among the 30 people who made the illegal trek to Oman via launches over a month ago from Wazirabad.  The men were facilitated by ‘agents’ who charged each person a sum ranging from Rs20,000 to Rs30,000. He was among the six people caught on reaching Oman after a painful, almost month-long journey. After they landed in Keamari, they were spotted by Edhi rescue workers who took them to the hospital. The others who managed to survive immediately set out to go back to their native cities.

Some of those admitted claimed that not all the men deported had entered Oman illegally. Ghulam Mustafa, 23, and Mohammad Zahid said they had valid visas. Mustafa said he had been in Dubai for the past year and a half and was working in an internet cafe. He said he had entered Oman by mistake when he set out on a holiday with his friends. Similarly, Zahid was picked up by Oman’s investigation agency from a restaurant and claimed that his visa was valid for another four months.

They were all discharged within two hours of reaching the hospital and immediately set out for their own cities to start afresh.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2012.