Kathmandu: On Thursday, as the Kathmandu international airport resumed flights, it brought a sea of people from across the country wanting to be the first to take off. Migrant workers, who lived on the streets for almost two days waiting for the flights to resume, tourists stuck in their hotel rooms watching the beautiful valley descend into chaos, many wondering if they will be able to retain their jobs abroad before violence ends, and some just wanting to return home.
At 7 pm on Thursday, as the Nepalese army came out on the roads to enforce curfew measures in the national Capital, the streets turned empty – shops that opened for two hours in the evening to sell essential items were hurriedly shut, the people in the serpentine queues of motorcycles and cars stuck outside fuel stations(guarded by Army) were directed to return in the morning. Barring ambulances and vehicles moving towards the Tribhuvan International Airport, all forms of movement were banned across the city. But passing by dozens of checkposts manned by personnel of the Nepalese Army, those inside the vehicles en route to the airport slowly but gradually joined the thousands of people at the airport in Kathmandu.
At 7.45 pm, the flight schedule in the airport’s dashboard showed at least 9 different flights waiting to take off to destinations such as Doha, Bangkok, Dubai, Singapore, and Hongkong. The last Air India flight had taken many Indian citizens back to New Delhi around 7 – the last flight of the day to India. Airport officials said thousands of Indian nationals are still stuck in different parts of the country unable to escape. Air India, IndiGo and Spice Jet also resumed their flights to and from Nepal on Thursday.
Namrat Basnet(36), among the thousands hoping to fly out from Kathmandu, is a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia. Basnet, who works as a mechanic at a steel company in the country, said that citizens like him would have been the most affected due to Nepal’s ban on social media. “The lives of nearly 40-50% of Nepali citizens are dependent on migrant workers like me who go abroad and send money back home. The ban social media apps was a setback for us. We use the apps to send money, talk to our family members. It is through these apps on the phone that we see our children grow virtually on cell phone screens. The protest had started because of people like us. I am glad, I am returning after the government took back the decision. It is a relief.”
Wearing Nepal national flags and garlanded for their safe journey outside the country, most among the thousands of people at the airport, waited for their turns, their flight numbers to be called and the airline personnel to escort them even as the army surrounded the airport entrance from all sides. And then there were couples hugging outside the airport – the husband leaving the country for a job abroad. “Nepali story of its people going abroad to earn their bread is a harsh reality. This is the same scene we see at the airport every evening,” an airline operator said.
Vijay Kumar Mandal(25), who has in the past worked as a laborer in Malaysia for 6 years returned to Nepal two years ago. Mandal, a resident of Nepali’s Janakpur, had come to the airport with his 12 friends from the same village. “We were to leave on September 9 but as soon as we came here, the violence was unfolding. Our flight was cancelled and we had to spend the first night in a godown outside a local businessman’s house. On our second night our supervisor, who found us the job in Saudi Arabia took us to another place to spend the night. For two days, it seemed we had lost our livelihood. This morning, we were told that the flights resumed and we were given new tickets. There are thousands of citizens like us who work menial jobs abroad to make a living. We wish we could be here to protest against the corruption in the government but we have mouths to feed back home,” he said.
Then there were also groups of foreigners escorted by police and personnel for a safe passage back home. Alex, a UK resident but settled in Dubai, said this is his 15th trip to Nepal. “Our embassy officials told us to stay put in the hotel. We did not step out as the protests turned violent. We heard of vehicles being burnt outside our hotel, but got to see this only today while leaving the hotel. I work for a recruitment firm in Dubai. My wife and children were worried back home after hearing the reports. The last two days were a nightmare. Getting trapped in a conflict like this. It had never happened in the last 14 trips. No one had expected the country to descend into chaos like this.”
Personnel from the Nepalese army on the roads said that the situation is tense, but there were no major cases of violence. The army is guarding all vital installations across the city – hotels, oil companies, hospitals, malls. They are even guarding fuel stations and grocery stores. “We have been instructed only to allow ambulances and foreign travellers. People, especially foreigners, have been instructed not to step out of their homes/hotels and stay put where they are. We expect the situation to improve tomorrow,” a Nepalese army official guarding an oil depot said.
