Cannon fodder

AS fighters in Russia or a civilian shield in Israel, Indians are being duped by unscrupulous travel agents to travel to conflict zones in search of riches. The sweat and toil of Indians have built the glittering cities of West Asia, and in return, the migrant workers have brought prosperity home. Indian labour in Europe and North America has added immense value to their host countries. This peace-loving, industrious and thrifty community can be held as a model for permanent and temporary migration of workers anywhere in the world. Now, these virtues have made them vulnerable to duplicitous traffickers, who are pushing them into deadly battle zones.

Nibin Maxwell from Kerala, employed on a farm at Margaliot on the Israel-Lebanon border, was killed on Monday in a missile attack carried out by Shia militant outfit Hezbollah from Lebanon. Two others from his home state were injured. These are all new recruits filling in for Palestinian workers, who are barred from entering Israel and doomed to suffer a genocidal attack by the Israeli Defence Forces seeking revenge for the October 7 Hamas attack. The Palestinian death toll has crossed 30,700.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Labour Minister Hsu Ming-chun has apologised for seeking out labourers from India’s northeastern states for being ‘mostly Christian’ and for ‘their skin colour and dietary habits’. The External Affairs, Home and Labour ministries need to urgently draw up a comprehensive policy to have a government-to-government arrangement for the grant of work visas by any foreign country to avoid Indians being tricked into joining an armed conflict. Just as Israel needs to be warned against sending Indian workers into dangerous border areas, Russian designs to entrap poor job-seekers have to be condemned at the highest level. Indian workers shouldn’t become somebody’s cannon fodder.

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