one Indian detainees were released from Shumaisy Deportation Center in one single day Friday, considered to be a record number of any nationality sent back home. Muhammad Ashraf, an inmate awaiting deportation who spoke from his cell, described the occasion as “celebratory” and “freedom day” for the deportees, who ecstatically lined up in a long queue to board a bus that took them to King Khalid International Airport here Friday evening. “However, four of the 71 released returned back to the deportation center, and no reason was given why their deportation was put off,” Ashraf said. He added that one Pramod Kumar, a Keralite, returned back from the airport for the third consecutive time. The released deportees belonged to various Indian states like Kerala, Chennai, Jharkhand and from Jammu and Kashmir, Ashraf said. Majority among 71 released workers were reported by their respective sponsors as runaway workers while around 10 to 15 arrived at the deportation center after their sponsors handed them over to the Jawazaat for deportation on their own personal expenses (one-way ticket). To save cost of return air-ticket some unscrupulous sponsors dropped their workers at the deportation center with exit visas endorsed on passports, Ashraf said. “I say this because I spoke to each one of them who have exit only visa endorsed on their passports and told by their sponsors that they would be deported in two days,” he said. However, it would take a minimum of two months before any detainee gets released from the deportation center, even if a person is having passport and other identification documents, he said. Ashraf said despite the release of 71 Indian detainees around 110 new detainees arrived at the deportation center, which kept the inmates in a cell numbering eight and nine almost unchanged in numbers, he said. Currently around 246 detainees are awaiting their deportation, he added. R. Muraleedharan, President, Federal of Keralite Associations in Saudi Arabia (Fokasa) for Riyadh provincial committee said the Indian detainees boarded a Qatar Airways plane. He said the largest group of Indian detainees was released from Shumaisy Deprtation Center after the issue was reported in local newspapers highlighting their plight and sufferings due to unhygienic conditions at the center. “The number of inmates in Cell Nos. 8 and 9 is around 450 even after the deportation of 71 Indian detainees,” he said quoting Siju Joseph, one of the inmates at Shumaisy Tarheel. He said the issue of Indian detainees was brought to the notice of higher authorities in India. A joint petition signed by the mainstream social and cultural organizations such as ICC, OICC, Kelee, KMCC and FOKASA was dispatched to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister, Vyalar Ravi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Chief Minister of Kerala “to expedite the deportation of Indian detainees.” The combined efforts by various social organizations, speedy issuance of emergency certificates from Indian Embassy and availability of airline bookings helped the deportation of Indian detainees, he said and hoped that the remaining detainees will be sent back home in the near future. A number of inmates are at the center for more than three months “and are suffering from several acute and chronic diseases like chicken pox, tuberculosis and asthma,” Murleedharan said.
