US MILITARY, EMBASSY MEET WITH PAKISTANIS ON DRIVER BAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 003683

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/NGA SA/INS, DRL/PHD, DRL/ILA, G/TIP
STATE FOR CA/OCS/ACS/NESA, M/P FOR JAY ANANIA
DOL FOR ILAB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014
TAGS: ELAB, MOPS, PREL, PHUM, ETRD, EAID, KU, IZ, PK
SUBJECT: US MILITARY, EMBASSY MEET WITH PAKISTANIS ON
DRIVER BAN

REF: A. KUWAIT 3374
B. KUWAIT 3033
C. KUWAIT 2496

Classified By: DCM Matthew H. Tueller, Reasons
1.4a and b

1. (C) Summary and Comment. Director of Operational
Movement and Distribution for the Coalition Land Forces
Component Command (CFLCC) Brigadier General William Johnson,
DCM and emboffs met with Pakistani Ambassador Khizir Hayat
Khan Niazi and his staff on October 25 to discuss security
provisions for Pakistani drivers working for US military
contractors in Kuwait and Iraq, and to assuage some of the
Pakistanis' concerns. Niazi outlined the GOP's three main
worries: 1) Pakistanis working without employment contracts;
2) the Embassy's inability to locate its nationals upon
receipt of welfare/whereabouts inquiries; and 3) employers
bringing Pakistanis to Kuwait on visitor rather than work
visas. All of these issues are currently being addressed by
CFLCC. COMMENT. Niazi seemed reasonably satisfied that the
GOP's complaints are being addressed at least for those
Pakistanis working for the US military. Post, in
coordination with CFLCC, will continue to press the
contractors to comply in full with General Speer's employee
welfare measures, and will follow up with the Pakistani
Embassy to ensure that it is receiving information on its
nationals in the employ of US military contractors. End
Comment and Summary.

2. (C) Director of Operational Movement and Distribution for
the Coalition Land Forces Component Command (CFLCC) Brigadier
General William Johnson, DCM and emboffs met with Pakistani
Ambassador Khizir Hayat Khan Niazi and his staff on October
25 to discuss security provisions for Pakistani drivers
working for US military contractors in Kuwait and Iraq. The
Government of Pakistan recently requested that the Government
of Kuwait (GOK) prohibit all Pakistanis from entering Iraq,
citing concerns about Pakistani nationals' welfare. Although
the GOK initially agreed to the request, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs has since reversed its decision and will not
prevent foreign nationals from traveling to Iraq. BG
Johnson's brief, previously delivered to the Embassies of
India, the Philippines, Turkey and Nepal (Refs A-C),was
intended to assuage some of the Pakistanis' concerns about
one subset of Pakistani workers: those employed by US
military contractors.

3. (C) BG Johnson went over the welfare provisions that the
US military has begun requiring all contractors put in place,
previously detailed in a letter from CFLCC Deputy Commanding
General MG Gary Speer that was transmitted to the Pakistani
Ambassador on September 6 (text in Ref B). BG Johnson also
stressed that since the military increased convoy security
measures in April (a minimum of one military gun truck for
every ten civilian cargo trucks, in a convoy of at most 30
trucks),no foreign national driver has been kidnapped from a
US military convoy in Iraq, and none killed along the
southern/south-central supply route.

Government of Pakistan's Concerns
--------------

4. (C) Ambassador Niazi, while acknowledging that these
security measures were "perfect" given the current
circumstances in Iraq, and stressing that the GOP supports US
efforts, emphasized that the GOP was specifically concerned
about three issues. First, the Embassy had discovered that
some Pakistanis were working for US military subcontractors
without employment contracts. Niazi explained when several
Pakistanis recently sought asylum at his Embassy, they
discovered that these individuals had been brought to Kuwait
on visitor (rather than work) visas, had no valid employment
contracts and lacked entry or exit stamps in their passports.
As a result, the employer (KBR subcontractor al-Tamimi) was
able to claim that the men were "illegals" and not entitled
to compensation when confronted by the Pakistani Embassy.
Niazi said that he subsequently informed Islamabad that the
Indian and Philippines Embassies had asked the GOK not to let
their nationals into Iraq when they discovered similar
employment abuses, and suggested that Pakistan might want to
consider doing the same. He added that the GOP has no
problem in principle with Pakistanis working, as long as they
do so of their own free will, with valid contracts and in
conformance with Pakistani employment laws (which overseas
employers must also follow).

5. (C) Second, the GOP would like to be able to locate its
nationals if the Embassy receives welfare/whereabouts
inquiries. DCM told Niazi that one of General Speer's
provisions is that all US military contractors must maintain
and provide a list of third country national employees to
their respective embassies. Labor Officer Aamir Hassan
acknowledged that the Embassy had received some data, but
said that they had never received a list from either KBR or
the Public Warehousing Corporation (PWC),two of the
principal contractors. BG Johnson and emboffs promised to
follow up with the contractors to ensure compliance with this
regulation, and agreed to field welfare/whereabouts inquiries
in specific cases at the Pakistani Embassy's request.

6. (C) Finally, Niazi said that all contractors must obtain
proper work visas for their Pakistani employees before they
leave Pakistan, rather than bringing them to Kuwait under
visitor visas. CFLCC Contracting Officer CPT Anthony Kram
told Niazi that the military is beginning to regulate this by
refusing to issue required identification badges if an
employee does not have at least a temporary business visa;
within a few months, CFLCC will make this even more stringent
by requiring a regular work visa.


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