Whilst we are complaining about losing
our democratic rights here in Sri Lanka to a dictatorial rogue, we must not
forget the fact that there are other countries that are under the radar which
are able to conceal their dictatorship in a sinister way.
Take the case of Qatar. They came into my
radar when they made the fatal mistake of trying to muzzle a couple of Human Rights
activists who came to investigate the ongoing deaths of the poor Nepalese construction
workers, who are duped to work for pitiful wages and conditions, due to the
desperation of their economic plight back home. Due to appalling working
conditions, the incidents of workplace accidents and deaths are really
unacceptable for Qatar, let alone even if they occurred in Nepal.
So when one realizes that Qatar has the
highest GNP on earth, it is because there are so few Qataris to divide the
spoils, and there are six times as many non-Qataris who work in Qatar to serve
these pretend to work citizens of the Emirate.
There are ONLY 278,000 Qataris at GNP
per head of US$100K in a population of 2 Million. In effect in this absolute monarchy
with NO elected assembly, the NON Qataris have NO rights, and even if they
stand on the road with a placard will be promptly deported. There is no dissent
by the foreigners, as they have no choice to work or leave, and don’t rock the
boat. The foreigners know the rules under which they live, which are NO rules,
but those imposed on them and they cannot change them even if they wanted to,
if they felt it was unfair. As for the local citizens why do they care about
the foreigners as they are only there to serve, and they don’t want to rock the
boat as they are taken care of cradle to grave from the welfare state that only
applies to the Qataris.
Workers there work only under the Qatari
rules or leave, so whatever UN rules apply to workers don’t apply to non-Qataris
as far as enforcement is concerned, as put simply, non-Qataris cannot take a
case out against the Qatar govt. in Qatar, so they have NO law. Any fool worth half
a brain knows what the status of the majority of people who live in Qatar is,
and it is that they have NO status.
Worse still, with Qatar now funding extremism
abroad, they are fast becoming a pariah nation, that like Israel the US
supports because it is in their interests to support with the largest military
base in the Gulf, mainly manned by Sri Lankans, who if they left the base will result
in a non-functional military base. Fortunately, they cannot join together to
protect their interests and hold the base to ransom, so no worry to the US or
the Qataris and the status NON quo remains.
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