‘It Is Risky to Work in Libya Now’
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MARRI RAMU
Last year, when he landed in the city on vacation, the airport of Tripoli in Libya, from where he flew, was bombed. And, this year when E. Srinivas came to Hyderabad again on vacation, the news came that four Indians, including two from Hyderabad, were kidnapped in Libya.
“Even after the Tripoli airport was bombed last year, I flew back to Libya to work. Now with Gopi Krishna and Balram working in Libya being detained, I may drop my idea of going back to Libya,” he says. The 32-year-old assistant professor at Zawia university, west of Tripoli, flew to Hyderabad 10 days ago.
He was also a witness to the violent war of regime-change during the armed western-backed counter-revolution against the Gaddafi government in 2011.
Although the Indian government started evacuating Indians, a majority of them were left behind.
“I was single, and the high pay on offer was a big factor then, hence I preferred to stay back,” he says.
T. Gopi Krishna and Ch. Balram, who were among the four Indians kidnapped two days ago, also stayed back though he never met them. College teachers, doctors, fuel company employees and bank employees are offered high salaries in Libya, Mr. Srinivas says.
However, at hindsight, he admits that he risked his life by choosing to stay back in Libya and continue working after 2011, with a war-like situation prevailing every day.
Gunshots, bombings and the movement of tanks were the order of the day.
“One day, one of my friends rang up, saying there was firing at his house. When I went there, I found the walls of the house pockmarked with bullets,” he recalls with a shudder.
His friend immediately left, but Mr. Srinivas did not.
As the then Libyan government gave Kalashnikov rifles to citizens, he used to see students coming to college carrying firearms and ammunition. While the Gaddafi government was overthrown by the Pentagon and NATO and the leader was killed, operatives of al-Qaeda and the ISIS started taking control of some pockets of Libya.
The city of Sirte, where the four Indians were kidnapped, is dominated by the ISIS. “With the latest abductions, I may not go back to Libya,” says Mr. Srinivas.
It means he has to forego his Hyundai Verna car, some furniture and the salary for nearly two months, all amounting to Rs. eight lakh. “It’s not worth putting one’s life in danger for the money on offer.”
MARRI RAMU
Last year, when he landed in the city on vacation, the airport of Tripoli in Libya, from where he flew, was bombed. And, this year when E. Srinivas came to Hyderabad again on vacation, the news came that four Indians, including two from Hyderabad, were kidnapped in Libya.
“Even after the Tripoli airport was bombed last year, I flew back to Libya to work. Now with Gopi Krishna and Balram working in Libya being detained, I may drop my idea of going back to Libya,” he says. The 32-year-old assistant professor at Zawia university, west of Tripoli, flew to Hyderabad 10 days ago.
He was also a witness to the violent war of regime-change during the armed western-backed counter-revolution against the Gaddafi government in 2011.
Although the Indian government started evacuating Indians, a majority of them were left behind.
“I was single, and the high pay on offer was a big factor then, hence I preferred to stay back,” he says.
T. Gopi Krishna and Ch. Balram, who were among the four Indians kidnapped two days ago, also stayed back though he never met them. College teachers, doctors, fuel company employees and bank employees are offered high salaries in Libya, Mr. Srinivas says.
However, at hindsight, he admits that he risked his life by choosing to stay back in Libya and continue working after 2011, with a war-like situation prevailing every day.
Gunshots, bombings and the movement of tanks were the order of the day.
“One day, one of my friends rang up, saying there was firing at his house. When I went there, I found the walls of the house pockmarked with bullets,” he recalls with a shudder.
His friend immediately left, but Mr. Srinivas did not.
As the then Libyan government gave Kalashnikov rifles to citizens, he used to see students coming to college carrying firearms and ammunition. While the Gaddafi government was overthrown by the Pentagon and NATO and the leader was killed, operatives of al-Qaeda and the ISIS started taking control of some pockets of Libya.
The city of Sirte, where the four Indians were kidnapped, is dominated by the ISIS. “With the latest abductions, I may not go back to Libya,” says Mr. Srinivas.
It means he has to forego his Hyundai Verna car, some furniture and the salary for nearly two months, all amounting to Rs. eight lakh. “It’s not worth putting one’s life in danger for the money on offer.”
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