Worker threatens self-immolation

Abu Dhabi: A Pakistani worker threatened self-immolation in front of either Pakistan Embassy or the Labour Ministry here if his five-year battle to secure eight months' salary is not resolved in a month.

Abdul Khaliq Afsar Khan, who also lost his house in the October earthquake in his Balakot hometown, came to the UAE in 1997 to work as an excavating machine operator with a salary of Dh3,000.

Within two years he got a better offer, quit his job and went back to Pakistan.

Khan, a father of five and the lone breadwinner in the family, joined the new company at the end of July 2000 and received his full salary regularly for the first eight months. But the employer failed to pay him for the next eight months.

Since then he has been struggling to get justice through the Labour Ministry and the Sharia Court. His case has lingered as his employer failed to appear before the court and other technical reasons. "I would have ... gone home within the first few months of my struggle... had I had my passport. The passport was with my sponsor, who later cancelled my visa and reported me as an absconder while my case was in the court," Khan said.

He added the sponsor did not acquire his labour card in the first place. But when the case went to the ministry, the sponsor had to get a labour card to be on the safe side. "With the help of some employees in the Labour Ministry he managed to get a labour card issued as an employee of another company. The date of the work permit was 2000. ... the staff entered the number of my new passport, which was issued in 2002."

Khan said the case has been delayed at the ministry because the staff involved in the illegal practice of issuing the permit tried to protect themselves.

Unending misery

Last week Khan's elder sister died of tension. "I had spoken to her a week before her death, and what she could say was only cry ... begging me to return home. I could not go home to attend the funeral because of the court case," Khan said with tears in his eyes.

"My family now lives in a tent after the earthquake, and the children could no more go to school. While struggling to secure my salary of Dh31,405, I have built up a loan of Dh50,000 ... to ... support my family."

An official at the embassy said hopefully Khan's case will be solved soon.

A spokesman said: "We have written to the Labour Ministry. ... We will continue our efforts until this case is solved."