Sherla Lachavva (right), mother of Raju, pleads for his release from jail in Iraq.

KAWAL (MANCHERIAL): Even as the memory of the 39 men from Punjab being killed by ISIS in Iraq in 2014 slowly fades, another instance has emerged where some 50 men from Telangana are subsisting in the Middle-Eastern country after being cheated by agents.

Families of the men from Kawal village of Jannaram mandal in Mancherial district say fraudulent agents have tied up with Iraqi businessmen and are running an elaborate human trafficking racket. The men have been taken to Erbil on visitor visas and are being forced to work there at construction sites for small amounts. Not only are they kept in poor conditions, they also have to evade the authorities as they are living their illegally. This has left these poor farmer families even poorer.

At least two of the men have now been arrested and jailed but their families back home have no idea what crime they have committed.

The Punjabi men had been killed in Mosul and it had taken the Indian government four agonising years to bring back the bodies.

Although Erbil today is not as dangerous a place as Mosul was in 2014, Iraq is still a no-go zone for many countries. Only in May did the US issue a travel advisory asking Americans to stay away from “Iraq due to terrorism , kidnapping, and armed conflict”.

But lack of employment opportunities forced the men from Kawal to look for greener pastures in Iraq. The agents sold them a dream by promising salaries ranging between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000. The moment they stepped into Iraq, their passports were taken away, leaving them at the mercy of the agents and the Iraqi businessmen.

In practically every family in the village, there is one person in Erbil. Linganna was one who came back.

“There are no jobs in Erbil,” he says. “The agents identify those in great financial need and send them there after taking their Rs 2 lakh fee.”

With small land holdings and the occasional failed crop, many of the families had already run up debts with local moneylenders ranging between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 8 lakh. On top of this, they borrowed Rs 2 lakh each to pay the Iraq agents.

Komaraiah, who worked as a driver in Iraq and returned, says, “They have no legal work permit,” he says.

“The modus operandi of agents is to promise them work, get them a visitor visa and after they land there, take away their passports.”

