Indians Allegedly Unable to Leave Iraq

India asked the United States for information Tuesday on allegations that Indian nationals were being forced to work for contractors in Iraq with little rest and low pay and were kept in the country “against their will.”

The Foreign Ministry asked the U.S. Embassy for details on the number of Indians working in Iraq, a ministry spokesman said.

The ministry “expressed its concern regarding the disturbing reports about the conditions in which some Indian nationals are being forced to work for contractors active in Iraq,” a statement said.

The embassy was asked about news reports “that Indians who wished to leave were unable to do so, and were being compelled to continue to remain in Iraq against their will,” the statement said.

In Washington, a State Department official confirmed that Indian officials had been in contact with the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

Indian newspapers reported that Indians in Jordan and Kuwait were recruited for jobs in U.S. military camps in Iraq as cooks, butchers, laundry workers and handymen.

Four workers who said they had escaped from a camp in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul alleged that they were made to labor for long hours with little rest and low pay, and were refused permission to leave, Press Trust of India news agency said.

The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi was investigating, the news agency quoted an embassy official as saying.