News Desk :
A group of 27 illegal Bangladeshi migrants tried to forcibly occupy the Hanoi embassy of Bangladesh in Vietnam on July 2, alleged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
The MoFA issued a press release on Monday in this regard saying that these Bangladeshi nationals were lured by human traffickers to Vietnam.
After it came to the notice of the Bangladesh embassy in Hanoi, it arranged a repatriation flight for them on July 2. While eleven illegal immigrants took the flight back to Dhaka from Hanoi, 27 of them refused to return asking the government to pay the fare.
These people went live on social-media making derogatory comments against Bangladesh. They are now threatening in the social media that if their demands are not met they will similarly occupy all Bangladesh embassies abroad.
The statement said that the Bangladesh government does not have a provision to pay for the airfare of returning illegal workers.
According to the release, a certain quarter is trying to tarnish Bangladesh’s recent success in controlling human trafficking by threatening to attack Bangladesh missions abroad involving illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
Talking to the journalists at his office on Monday, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said that a new organisation named ‘Prabashi Odhikar Parishad,’ led by Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) former VP Nurul Haque Nur, is involved in patronising these illegal migrants. He said those people who illegally go abroad should also be sent behind the bars along with the traffickers as both are responsible for tarnishing the image of Bangladesh abroad.
Shital Chandra Sarker, one of the 27 Bangladeshis in Hanoi, told the media that they went to the Bangladesh embassy on July 2 when it was raining heavily.
He denied the MoFA’s allegation that they tried to ‘occupy’ the embassy.
“Only three from us went inside the embassy and talked about our problems with the embassy officials. Afterwards, we were kept in a hotel,” he said.
He also said they were victims of fraudulence and abuse by the agents and brokers and thus were seeking to return home over the last several weeks.
When contacted, Nurul Haque Nur said they initiated Probashi Odhikar Parishad only a month ago to raise voice for Bangladeshi migrant workers who are deprived of their rights.
“We have already formed the platform, but yet to give its formal structure. But, as we raised our voice for peoples’ rights, we also spoke about the rights of the 27 Bangladeshi nationals who were trafficked to Vietnam. How can it be an instigation? It is an absurd claim,” he said.
