JEDDAH (SAUDI ARABIA): Simmering anger over the destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya continues to affect non-Muslim Indians especially Hindus working in the Kingdom.

Many non-Muslims Indians face the prospect of losing their jobs once their work permits expire Several sources said on condition of anonymity that the Contacts and iqama (work permits) of non-Muslim Indians particularly Hindus were facing threats of non-renewal.

They also said that workers such as servants maids porters and drivers were being treated with even more contempt than is usually reserved for this underclass from South Asian countries by their Saudi employers

A source at the King Abdul Aziz University hospital in Jeddah a sprawling medical facility that cm ploys several thousand workers said

Indian Hindu medical workers especially general practitioners and nurses were being told that their contracts would not be renewed and that they would have to go home when the Contracts expired

One physician said that unofficially they have told us that they don’t like the attitude of Hindus toward Muslims in India and that the destruction of the Babri mosque clearly shows this prejudice. The doctor vent his ire on the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad because their actions have affected our lively hoods because the money we mule here was so good and we could fund entire families with our salaries.

He said we have told our senior people that we too were totally against the BJP action in Ayodhya but the Saudis simply don’t See it that way and think that all Hindus in Lndia are against the Muslims and prosecuted all Muslims. But Saudi officials have denied that there is any such discrimination the officials maintained that no as renewal of contracts Was the natural part of the Saudiasation process.

But the Indian physicians and nurses refuted this saying that the contracts of their Muslim counterparts were not boing allowed 16 expire They said where nurses and some of the lower level help are concerned the Saudis will never do their work but they 100 have been told that they will have to pack up and go home because they are Hindus and because the destroyed the Babri mosque.

An estimated more than one million Indian expatriates are working in Sandi Arabia 40% of them being non-Muslims.

Article extracted from this publication >> January 7, 1994