QATAR, January 30, 2009: More and more Nepalese emigrants who have gone to Muslim majority countries to work – for example, on the Arabian Peninsula – are abandoning their Hindu religion and embracing Islam in order to improve their economic and social situation.
According to figures from the Nepalese workers’ union, in Qatar alone there have been about 2,000 cases of conversion, plus 4,000 in Saudi Arabia, the Arab emirates, and Malaysia.
Rita Tamang, who emigrated to Saudi Arabia two years ago from the Nepalese district of Dhulikhel, explains that “Muslims get privileges with better work and good pay. The workers from other religions are hardly trusted by private employers. So, I myself also adopted Islam, giving up Hinduism.”
On the basis of numbers provided by the Nepalese workers’ union, and under pressure from the complaints of immigrants and their relatives in Nepal, the foreign minister in Kathmandu has decided to take measures to stop the wave of conversions. Upendra Mahato says he has “instructed our diplomatic missions to probe the cases and stop such conversions if they come through pressure or by force.”
By sending part of their earnings back home, emigrants represent one of the main sources of income for Nepal.