In 2004, twelve Nepali workers were beheaded by a Sunny militant group, causing Nepali Hindus to retaliate against Nepali Muslims. The government in Kathmandu reacted by banning Nepalis from working in Iraq. However, thousands of them still made it to that country looking for work. Currently, many are employed in menial jobs or are hired as security staff by foreign companies.

According to Nepali police, each migrant pays close to US$ 4,000 to traffickers to get into Iraq.

Despite the dangers, a group of Iraqi-based Nepali workers has set up a committee to press the government to lift the ban.

“We talked to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Ministry and the Labour Ministry to legalise the status of Iraq based Nepali workers,” said Deuman Tamang, a Nepali from Kathmandu who works in an office at US army camp. “But we have not received any response”.

“If the government does not lift the ban, we will lose our job and more importantly, the country, which is largely dependent on remittances, will face grave economic problems,” he warned.

About 40 per cent of the government’s budget depends on money sent home by Nepalis working abroad.

“We are having a discussion on this issue,” Nepal’s Labour Minister Mohamad Aftaf Alam told AsiaNews. “We are positive that if Nepali workers are safe in Iraq, we shall lift the ban.”

However, for him, the real problem lies in the constant traffic of Nepali workers to Iraq via India; a number that is increasing because of the country’s political crisis.

In fact, for over a month, Nepali political leader have failed to find a replacement for Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who resigned.

Existing divisions between parties do not bode well for a solution any time soon.