KARMA DOLMA GURUNG
On the morning of 5 June Saudi Arabia and seven other countries including the UAE and Egypt declared a diplomatic boycott on Qatar, accusing their small but gas-rich Gulf neighbor of backing Islamist terrorist groups. The blockade of Qatar now also includes a suspension of land, sea, and air travel to and from the country.
The suspension of travel links has isolated Qatar and provoked fear among Nepali migrant workers in the Gulf region as uncertainty and lack of information lingers around the situation.
Ram Hari Neupane, a salesperson at Lulu Supermarket in Doha was on his daily commute to work and described the city as being normal, but an increase in tension among his compatriots regarding the future.
"Our managers haven't told us anything yet. All the information we are getting is from social media right now. This has caused fear among people as to what will happen if the situation worsens here,” he said over the phone, describing a tense atmosphere in the workplace.
"Since the blockade of Qatar was announced, we have seen people at the supermarket stock up on daily essentials. We get a lot of produce and dairy products from Saudi Arabia so those stocks have been decreasing,” he added.
For eager workers, and for those planning trips to Qatar, the ban on flights has had an immediate impact on purchase of cheap air tickets. Even though there has been no direct effect on migrant workers in Doha, experts claim that the decision could affect Nepali migrant population in the long run.
“The long-term impact of this boycott depends on how the Qatari government responds. With the decline of oil prices, the number of Nepali migrants to GCC was slowly decreasing but Qatar was the only country constantly accepting migrants as in previous years because of its construction boom,”said Ganesh Gurung, an expert on migrant issues in Kathmandu. “But if all of this is impacted by the ban, many Nepalis could lose their job – thereby affecting our economy.”
Immediately after the diplomatic boycott was announced, the Philippine government declared that it would stop sending foreign workers to Qatar until further notice -- citing food shortages as a major problem should the situation worsen.
“After hearing about the decision taken by the Philippines government, we are worried now about what will happen to the Nepali workers there because many of the Nepalis fall under the same category as Filipino migrant workers,” said Som Prasad Lamichane, Secretary General at Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee, an organisation run by returnee migrant workers in Kathmandu. “We are all just waiting for the government to inform us about what next steps Nepalis in Qatar should do.”