Trapped in Libya for 8 months,UP man home

Arvind Jaiswal of Uttar Pradeshs Maharajganj district will never forget the past eight months.

Arvind Jaiswal of Uttar Pradeshs Maharajganj district will never forget the past eight months. Caught in the violent anti-Gaddafi movement in Libya,this was a gruelling period of unending mental agony and uncertainity. Distraught at not getting help from the Indian authortities there and trapped in the crossfire,he had nearly lost all hope of returning alive.

But Jaiswals foreign employers finally turned out to be his saviour and he finally returned home on Saturday evening.

Jaiswal returned to India along with three Bangladesh nationals,who were working with him in Libya. After reaching Mumbai via Istanbul on October 12,the Bangladeshis took another flight to their country. Jaiswal,after staying with his relatives for three days in Mumbai,took a train and returned home on Saturday.

Story continues below this ad

I thank God for my safe return from Libya where firing on the roadside was a common sight. Libya is still unsafe,80 per cent citizens still carry guns with them. Firing can take place any time. One had to be very cautious, said Jaiswal.

Arvind,34,a resident of Maharajganj districts Kothibhar locality,had gone to Libya in January,leaving behind his wife Savita Devi and three young children,on a two-year work visa.

He said after the tension broke out,people were unsafe even inside their houses. Gunmen forcibly enter houses to hound their rivals. If they find anyone suspicious,they open fire and kill people. Shops are looted and vehicles set afire,he said.

Speaking about his close encounters,Jaiswal said once he was sitting in his room along with his roommates when four armed men forced their way in and pointed weapons at them. When Jaiswal and others,none of whom speak Arabic,identified themselves as foreign nationals by making signs,the gunmen relented and left after searching the house.

Story continues below this ad

A few days later,another group of gunmen came to our house. This time we told them we havent eaten for the past two days. They gave us food and went away, said Jaiswal,adding they came to know from local residents that it was a rebellion for freedom from Gaddafis rule.

Jaiswal said some local residents were kind but they were also helpless because of the lawlessness and shortage of money and food.

For the last three months,we searched for arrangements the Indian government had made to rescue citizens like me. I regularly called up the Indian Embassy in Libya for help but they never gave any satisfactory reply. I then called up my family in India asking them to find out what arrangements the Indian government had made. They also failed to get any satisfactory reply. We then contacted our company and requested them to help us return to India, said Jaiswal,who worked as a crane operator at a private company in Libya.

Anxiety had made Jaiswal so sick he had to be hospitalised in September and all expense was borne by his employers. In August,the company sent Jaiswal and three Bangladesh nationals to Benghazi on their request.

Story continues below this ad

They stayed in a hotel for five days and went to Misrata,210 kilometres from Tripoli,to meet the owner of the company. Jaiswal requested the company to arrange for their return to India.

The company asked them to stay at the Misrata camp office till arrangements could be made. On October 9,all four persons,including Jaiswal,were sent to Benghazi from where they took a flight for Istanbul,and then on to Mumbai.