The strike that united Indian and Pakistani workers in Kuwait
· Scroll
In August 1948, as India approached the first anniversary of its independence, Indian and Pakistani employees of the Kuwait Oil Company made a modest request: a day off to mark the occasion.
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For many of them, living and working side by side despite the recent upheaval of the Partition, it was a chance to celebrate together. The company, however, refused.
At the time, more than 3,000 workers from the subcontinent were employed by the firm, which was trying to extract oil from the Burgan oil field, then the largest in the world. Jointly owned by the US-based Gulf Oil Corporation and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company of London, the company had an equal number of Indians and Pakistanis across levels – supervisors, clerks and manual workers.
The refusal by the American and British management to grant even a few hours off proved to be the last straw. Workers across class, religious and national divides united in protest, launching a strike against the harsh living and working conditions in what was then the British protectorate of Kuwait.
The management responded swiftly. Members of the newly formed Indo-Pakistan Association were dismissed and ordered to leave the country.
“Kuwait Oil Company today discharged Secretary, Indo-Pakistan Association and twelve others,” the secretary to the British...