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Journalism of Courage
For years, Indian engineers have been working in Libya as part of the professional NRI diaspora. Now, Pakistan’s embarrassment over the A Q Khan nuclear blackmarket network has prompted New Delhi to take abundant caution.
Last year, the Government asked the Indian Embassy in Tripoli to report on the scientists and engineers working there—some of them ex-staffers of Indian Space Research Organisation and the Defence Research and Development Organisation. And received a reply last week from Ambassador Dinkar Srivastava that quite a few Indian scientists are working for Colonel Muammar Ghadafi’s government and possibly involved in ‘‘high-technology’’ programmes.
The presence of Indian scientific professionals in dissuade employees from taking premature retirement. A personal bond from each employee on a cooling-off period, promising that he or she will not take employment for five years after retirement, is another option. However, a formal proposal for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is yet to be prepared.
According to sources, these highly skilled workers were lured by Libya on monetary gains. Once they join in Libya, the authorities there reportedly kept their passports and whisked them away to unknown destinations. The only contact they have with the Indian embassy in Tripoli is when they come to renew their passports.
With Ghadafi agreeing to end his WMD programme and deciding to permit inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, New Delhi hopes many of these prodigals will come clean—and come home.
