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Outlook Magazine | Aug 09, 2004
Cover Story
THE WAGES OF FEAR
Just on Thursday, two Pakistani hostages are killed. The fate of the
Indian truckers in captivity remains uncertain. What prompts about
1500 Indian truckers to accept this high-risk job? First-hand notes
from the highway to Baghdad.
by Aniruddha Bahal
Indian ambassador to Iraq B.B. Tyagi is a little loopy from jet lag,
puffing away on nicotine to pump himself up.
He's had to cut short his leave, fly back into Amman and then hop on
a chartered flight to Baghdad to handle the kidnapping of the three
Indian truck drivers-Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukdhev
Indians In The Line Of Fire
Singh-in Iraq. It's a constantly evolving situation. Iraq itself
offers a menacing kaleidoscope. Then there are inputs coming in from
the Indian embassy in Kuwait. And having to know how to squeeze
something out of names like Sheikh Hisham al-Dulami is the final
poser.
Sheikh Dulami, a tribal leader, has suddenly emerged as a person with
some influence over the Holders of the Black Banners, from all
accounts a gang from Mosul which kidnapped the three Indians, three
Kenyans and an Egyptian. At the time of their abduction, these seven
were driving the trucks of the Kuwait Gulf Link Transport Company
(KWG) in Iraq.
'I shouted at my Iraqi guard... if you can't shoot, teach me
how to do it.'
The Black Banners hadn't been heard of earlier; the group wasn't even
aware that India and Egypt did not have troops in Iraq (their
withdrawal was the group's initial demand for releasing hostages).
Yet the Black Banners evolved its list of demands
with great juvenile adroitness, and now hopes that the Sheikh would
cut a deal for them.
In the end, it may turn out to be just about money. Just as it is for
about 1,500 Indian truckers who brave RPG fire, landmines, and
ambushes from disparate Iraqi radicals-former Baathists, jehadis,
nationalists or plain kidnapping gangs-in a swathe of militant
acreage extending from Abdaly in Kuwait all the way to Baghdad. Says
Harjeet Singh, 28, from Hoshiarpur, "The dogs of Saddam are
everywhere and we cannot afford to be careless." Harjeet is clocking
thousands of kilometres on Iraqi asphalt strapped with 25 kg of body
armour and a helmet. En route, he cannot roll down the windows of the
Mercedes truck he drives, talk to local Iraqis, or even halt for a
desperate piss.
He is part of a Kellog, Brown & Root (KBR) trucking convoy hauling
supplies to US military bases in Iraq. The other big player in this
business is PWC-Logistics, which runs 1,600 refrigerated trucks. Says
Barry Rodriguez of PWC, "We have 1,100 trucks of our own and we rent
out the rest on long-term leases from local companies here."
Importantly, the company has some 600 Indian drivers on its rolls,
the majority operating from the PWC garage base at Mina Abdullah,
south Kuwait. The drivers are from all over India-Punjab, Haryana,
Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar.
Says Indian ambassador to Kuwait, Swashpawan Singh, "There are about
4,000 Indians working in Iraq using Kuwait as a base. The number
doesn't include the managerial segment." The semi-skilled segment
includes drivers, cooks and kitchen-helpers working on American bases
inside Iraq. (The ambassador's data on Indians is based on
confidential information supplied by the companies employing Indians
in Iraq.)
The drivers themselves are marvellous maniacs, displaying none of the
technicolour terror that bathes Iraq in all hues. Says Jarnail Singh,
40, of Jassim Transport & Stevedoring, who has been plying the Iraq
route for close to 13 months, with great emphasis, "Iraq jane ki
guarantee hai par aane ki nahin (There is a guarantee of getting into
Iraq but not of coming out)." The other Indian drivers in the Jassim
convoy nod their heads in agreement.
The Jassim convoy has been under attack several times. Recalls Sam
Jacob, 40, convoy commander from Kozhikode, "Once my convoy was
attacked at Tikrit in January. A bullet cracked open my steel boot
and hit my toes. In the same attack, two other drivers from Kerala
were severely injured. Shalu Varghese and Babu. I had to admit them
to the military hospital." Varghese, now in Kerala, can't walk from
injuries in the groin and thighs.Babu was luckier. He is back driving
in Jassim".
The bullet missed me but the glass from the windscreen cut my
forehead," he says.
Sheikh Mahboob of Celedon Transport, a US-based trucking company
whose drivers are 90 per cent Indian, had a lucky break late July.
The incident happened 20 km off Basra. Driving the 14th truck in a
15-truck convoy, Mahboob, from Hyderabad, came under fire from an
individual gunman. The bullets tore through the radiator. With great
presence of mind Mahboob steered the truck on neutral for nearly a
kilometre. He recalls, "My Iraqi security was hopeless. I shouted at
him that if you cannot fire your gun yourself teach me how to do it.
I am also a Muslim; we are ferrying goods for the Iraqis. It's for
their good." Mahboob's lament against private Iraqi security is
almost universal.
While the KBR and PWC convoys and those supplying goods to the
Japanese, Italian and Dutch military bases are protected by their
respective militaries, civilian convoys depend on private Iraqi
security-a bunch of poorly-trained youngsters.
Mahboob bemoans, "If the guard had fired the gun, at least the gunman
would have known that there is security. But my guard ducked. I also
got a poor guard. The better guards sit only in trucks with good
air-conditioning and cassette players. I did not have
'We trust only British security. the Iraqis are a poorly
trained bunch.'
good air-conditioning in my truck, so I got a lousy guard." Agrees
Jagjit Singh Sandhu, supervisor with Celedon, and earlier with KBR,
"At times, when we come under fire, the guards run away. The worst
part is that they sometimes travel too fast for the convoys, driving
a kilometre ahead."
In contrast, private British security companies get a thumbs up from
almost all drivers. Employed by private parties, and sometimes even
by the militaries, they travel in SUVs dispersed through a convoy.
Says Jacob, "We trust British security. They are patient and take
care of us better than anybody else."
The British security groups themselves comprise mostly former British
commandos. Says Mike Jones-Mathias, operations director for
Securiforce International, "Our objective is just to keep the convoys
moving. If we slow down, we become targets. The other thing we like
to avoid is to get traffic alongside the trucks." Adds former warrant
officer Andy, "Though the situation is starting to get a little
better because the Americans are retreating to their bases, I think
there will be an upsurge of violence. The Iraqi security can't
suddenly fill in the vacuum left by the American forces."
The situation was quite normal for the trucking convoys before April.
Says Daljit Singh, 25, from Gurdaspur, who drives for Jassim, "Till
four months back they only threw stones at us."
The drivers aren't the only Indians working in Iraq. There are cooks
and kitchen-helpers on American bases, some of which are located in
very hostile territory. Says George Kutty V. John, managing director
of Vigy Group of companies, "When I was in the Mosul camp, two-three
bomb blasts took place at the gate of the camp, killing the guards.
There were also incidents of grenade-throwing inside the camp."
George Kutty has been involved with Rajan Daniel, whose Kuwaiti
company won a labour contract in Mosul for 15 months and now employs
about 160 Indians there. He adds carefully, "There's no compulsion to
work at the camps."
The lure of money is sufficient. While kitchen-helpers get $300
(about Rs 13,800) per month, cooks earn around $750 (about Rs 34,500)
a month and chief cooks as much as $1,500 (about Rs 69,000). The camp
personnel get one month of paid leave for every six months of work.
But, understandably, for their own security, they can't step outside
the camps.
The earnings of convoy drivers vary considerably. At the top of
the heap are drivers of KBR convoys. Says Harjeet Singh, "For 12
hours of work a day, we get $1,200 (about Rs 55,200) a month; for
every extra hour we get $3.On an average, we end up earning about
$1,700 (about Rs 78,200) a month. That's more than 10 times of what
we would earn in India." At the bottom are companies like Jassim,
which pay a measly $6 a day for every day in Kuwait but $30 a day for
every day in Iraq.
The better guards sit in air-conditioned trucks, ones with
cassette players.
Such drivers manage about $450 (about Rs 20,700) a month. Drivers in
PWC are in the middle. Says Pradeep, 32, a PWC driver, "We get $450 a
month plus $60 for every trip into Iraq. In a month, we manage to
make three-four trips." For most drivers,
the insurance premia come from their pay packets.
Incidentally, KBR has also been tasked by the US military to increase
oil production in several Iraqi oil-fields. In one of them, in south
Romella near Basra, KBR has subcontracted the work to Al Meer
Technical Services Co, an Indian-owned company based in Kuwait. The
Indians who dominate the company's workforce shuttle daily between
Kuwait and Basra, escorted by 16 marksmen in SUVs and pick-up trucks.
Says Gulam Mustafa, the Iraqi project manager at Al Meer, "We take 40
to 110 people daily into Iraq. But nobody stays there after sunset.
We have contracted a private US security firm to provide us
protection." The security tab picked up by KBR: $5,000 a day.
Al Meer itself has a long-term policy in Iraq. Says Mustafa, "We
employ about 120 Iraqis. We give them overtime, travel allowances and
have initiated a training programme for their engineers. Iraqi
technicians in the oil-fields are not familiar with electronic
instrumentation."
No wonder, the company has struck a more than cordial relationship
with the locals. (There are also other companies here like Kamani
Steel of Mumbai which are working on overhead electrical transmission
projects.)
The goodwill that Al Meer is earning
'If India, China were at war, will you let someone take
supplies to them?'
is also because the Iraqis are generally well-disposed towards
Indians, the current kidnapping notwithstanding. Says Sukhchain
Singh, 40, from Kapurthala, a driver with Jassim, "In April this
year, we were attacked about a 100 km from the Kuwait border. But
once the mujahideen found out we were Indians, they didn't kill us.
They were only interested in snatching our vehicles." Or take driver
Jattu Ram from Punjab. Part of one of the convoys, his appendix acted
up in March this year. The doctors in Baghdad operated upon him free
once they came to know he was Indian. "I had no money. They gave me
free medicines and food. I was saved by them," he recalls.
As if the madness on the highway isn't enough for the Indians, they
invent some on their own. For the last fortnight, a group of 14
Indians has been boarding at the Indian embassy in Baghdad, after
they were plucked out of jail near Mosul where they had been
incarcerated for over six weeks. Says ambassador Tyagi, "They were
lured by agents with promises of jobs in Greece. Instead, they were
shoved into Iraq from Jordan. The logic was that it would be easier
to cross over from Iraq into Turkey and Syria and then to Lebanon or
Greece." Says Jaswant Singh, 26, from Jalandhar, "We were not
supposed to come to Iraq at all. But once we crossed over into Syria,
our agent deserted us. Local farmers spotted us and informed the
police."
The Syrian police took their money and belongings and pushed them
into Iraq, where the Iraqi border police apprehended them. For 12
days, they languished in the locker, surviving on little food and
water.
Says Tyagi, "The Iraqi police thought they were foreign terrorists,
and an Iraqi court subsequently sentenced them to jail for one year.
We met the judge and secured their release on a guarantee that they
would be sent back to India." With no direct flights between Iraq and
India, the group is waiting for visas from either Jordan or Iran to
transit to India.
This isn't the first group the embassy has rescued from Iraqi jail.It
has, in the last seven months, bailed out three other groups-two of
10 each and one of 26.Says Tyagi, "Sometimes you can't help but
admire their spirit.Out of the 60-odd that we have rescued from Iraqi
jails over one year, at least four were repeat visitors and willing
to take the risks twice over."
At Najaf, a key figure is the Jalandhar-born Ayatollah
Bashir, his students some 20 Indians.
Equally amazing is the story of Indians in Najaf, the spiritual
centre of the Shias, where one of the four principal ayatollahs is
Ayatollah Sheikh Bashir Hussain Najafi. Born in Jalandhar, Sheikh
Bashir studied in Lahore before shifting to Najaf 40 years ago. Since
then, he hasn't visited the subcontinent even once. Out of 160
students from South Asia studying Islam under him, there are two
dozen Indians-from Kargil, Mumbai, Allahabad, Haridwar and
Azamgarh-who wrote admission tests and qualified to study in the
Hussainiya Shirazia here. They have a punishing 18-hour schedule and
subsist on a monthly scholarship of $80.
Says Syed Ghulam Askari, 26, from Allahabad, "Four of us came when
Saddam was still around. We were here right in the middle of the war.
We saw the fire fights in Najaf, the helicopters firing missiles."
These students are perturbed by the kidnapping of the three Indian
truckers. Says Mohammad Ali Shakiri, "Kidnapping and beheadings are
not part of Islam. We hope the drivers are released without harm."
Ayatollah Bashir, however, is ambiguous about whether militants are
justified in attacking trucking convoys and kidnapping drivers.
Explains the cleric, "The first point is that terrorists are fighting
the US and their proxies. By attacking their supply convoys, they're
hurting the US. In jang (war) anything goes. If India and China were
at war, would the Indians allow civilians of a third country to take
water to the Chinese troops? It's the same here. The second point is
that both are wrong."
Probed about Islamic militancy, of the kind represented by Al Qaeda
globally and by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Iraq, the
ayatollah says, "How can they represent Islam? Do you want to ask
about Islam from somebody who has been researching it for 40-50 years
or someone who is using it for getting a chair?" He, however,
justifies the silence of clerics like him on militant Islam, "If we
issue a fatwa against Islamic militancy, it will be considered a
siyasi (political) act. Osama will come after us then."
The fear of militants is palpable here. For instance, Ayatollah
Bashir lives in a house adjacent to the building where he takes
classes, and moves between the two places via the roof, flanked by
gunmen. The fear of militant groups has dissuaded him from stepping
out on the streets.
The militia of the firebrand Shia leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, is vocal
in its opposition to the kidnapping. Moqtada al-Sadr himself
condemned the kidnappings, indirectly, at a Friday prayer in Najaf.
But some of his followers draw a rather delicate distinction. Says
Sheikh Ahmad Khafachi, 29, a close aide of Moqtada and who spent
three years in jail under the Saddam regime, "The militants are
fighting the Americans and hurting their convoys out of love for
Saddam. But we are fighting the Americans out of love for Islam."
Bustling with hundreds of fighters eager to test their manhood
against the US, and with clerics who talk loose and fast, Indian
truckers in Iraq, particularly the three kept hostages, can only keep
their fingers crossed.
(The writer is the editor of Cobrapost.com.)
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