Migrant workers in wartime

As war escalates across West Asia, Nepali workers navigate fear, uncertainty and the pressure to keep earning, while back home a new government readies to take charge.   

Khagendra Basnet, 42, has spent seven years as a security guard here. He sits silently during a long night shift as his mobile phone screeches alerts. Explosions follow as Iranian missiles and drones are intercepted overhead. 

Three weeks into the war, residents in Qatar have gone from fear to resignation, some even returning to dinners at the Pearl and Souq Waqif under flashes of missiles in the sky. 

Basnet’s company contracted him to US-affiliated institutions and he works near the American Embassy. He is apprehensive, “I panic from time to time as there is no saying when it is safe.”

Qatar’s location and its US air base at Al Udeid puts it at risk of Iranian missile attacks. The base was struck on the very first day of the war on 28 February. Oil and gas installations in Iran and across the Gulf were targetted this week. 

While no deaths have been reported in Qatar so far, there is fear among Nepalis in the Gulf states, as well as in Israel itself where there are 7,000 caregivers and nurses. 

Three South Asian migrant workers were killed by debris from intercepted Iranian drones above Abu Dhabi on 28 February. Among them was 29-year-old Diwas Shrestha from Gorkha, who had been working as a security guard.

“Hearing that news made my heart ache,” says Basnet. “What if my family has to bear a similar tragedy without saying goodbye, and hearing from news sources?”

Basnet came to Qatar to save enough to support his family. His company had promised him a plane ticket home in April, but Doha airport is only partially open for limited routes. He says, “My family is really worried. I assure them that it’s all ok, just to lessen their fear.”

Basnet’s thoughts are about the political change back home in Nepal. He blames the decades of corrupt governments for not creating opportunities for people like him in Nepal, and forcing him to work in a war zone.

The Foreign Ministry issued an advisory to the nearly 2 million Nepalis in Israel, Iran and other West Asian countries telling them to follow local security instructions. 

“We have formed an Emergency Response Team with different departments in light of the ongoing conflict in West Asia. We are closely monitoring the situation through our 24/7-operating control rooms, our embassies and advisories in the region, and online information forms,” says Lok Bahadur Poudel Chettri of the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu.

More than 65,000 Nepali citizens have registered in the ministry's online system, among whom roughly 6,000 requested emergency assistance. 

Foreign Minister Balananda Sharma has said Nepal would “use both air and sea routes” if the number of people requiring assistance increases. 

However, the department sees no immediate need for mass-evacuation from the region. 

But for many workers here, the issue is not only whether they are officially asked to leave. It is whether they can afford to. 

On 14 March MoFA advised Nepalis in Qatar to secure Saudi tourist visas in advance so they could use the Salwa border route and fly out to Nepal. 

Other governments evacuated their nationals through overland transfers, charter flights, and consular assistance routed via Saudi Arabia or Oman. 

The Indian Embassy in Qatar facilitated departures through limited Qatar Airways flights and through Saudi Arabia, including temporary 96-hour Saudi transit visas for its Indian nationals. 

“I checked the available options and it will cost at least 4,000 riyals (Rs157,000) to fly to Nepal via Saudi Arabia, and most flights are already booked,” says Basnet, whose salary is only 1,800 riyal a month.

NEW NORMAL

For most migrant workers in Qatar, fear has become routine. Arun Thapa, 31, works at a food delivery company here, and was in his room scrolling through TikTok when he first saw videos and updates about war breaking out 28 February. 

Before he could fully process what was happening, emergency alerts began ringing on his phone, followed by explosions in the sky. 

For Thapa this was less scary than the Israeli air strike in Doha last September targetting the Hamas leadership. He was delivering food when he heard the bombs go off at that time. 

“That day, I was really frightened. It was my first time seeing this,” recalls Thapa. “That is not to say I am not scared now, of course, I am,” he says. “I try not to overthink, and get on with my job.”

Thapa came to Qatar 10 years ago after being first rejected for medical reasons. He first worked in Bangalore as a waiter, and connections he built there helped him secure a job in a supermarket in Qatar. Unlike many migrants he did not have to pay an exorbitant amount to recruiters.

Still, he was promised a salary of 2,500 riyals a month, which was the main reason he agreed to come, but found out he would earn only half that. 

His job is risky even without war: riders spend long hours on the road, exposed to traffic, heat and now the possibility of falling missile debris.

But he came here to earn and save, and this means he has to overcome his fear. Thapa wants to stay on for another two years because he still has loans after buying land for his family.

“It has become a habit. If I hear an alert, I park my bike to watch the fireworks, and get back to delivering,” he says. “People are not as scared as they were at first. Despite everything, Qatar feels safe.” 

But if the war escalates, Thapa does not expect much from his company beyond the annual return ticket, he will have to fend for himself. He is somewhat more optimistic about the Nepal Embassy helping than before. 

Even though Nepal is a neutral country, its citizens are now scattered across the globe — many of them in war zones like West Asia. Ten Nepalis were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul in 2014, and the dozen Nepalis were killed in Iraq in 2004.

At least 1,000 Nepalis are fighting in the Russian Army against Ukraine, and 110 have been killed. Economic desperation and tempting offers by recruiters pushes many to risk their lives just to support their families.

“Labour and migration must be diversified and not be entirely dependent on Gulf countries,” says Pitambar Ghimire at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security in Kathmandu. “We must ensure safe and dignified migration in our labour diplomacy.”

With the change of government in Nepal, there is hope among migrants that in the long term there will be better job opportunities, but there is the immediate risk posed by the West Asia war. 

Nepal needs to move beyond lip service to migrant workers for supporting the country with their remittances, to ensuring their safety and security. 

Khagendra Basnet stares out at the glittering Doha skyline, gives a worrying glance at the sky, saying,“I hope I can still live safely and be here to work and earn. If not, I will have to find a way back.” 

Some names have been changed to protect their identity.