The government has asked its missions in West Asian and African countries to remain in touch with Bangladesh nationals to pursue them for remaining away from political programmes in the countries they work, a top official of the foreign ministry said.
‘We have asked our missions abroad to keep in touch with expatriate Bangladeshis so that they remain away from political programmes in general and anti-government agitations in particular,’ said the official.
The foreign ministry conveyed the government’s intent to the missions in the Arabic speaking countries as unrest kept raging across the region, another senior foreign ministry official said on Monday.
The mission staff are advising Bangladesh nationals to maintain safety and security during the evolving situations in the respective host countries. The government is concerned about the unrest
in the Middle East and North Africa as several million Bangladesh nationals work in the region, foreign minister Dipu Moni said at a press conference on Friday. About seven million Bangladeshis work abroad and most of them work in Arabic speaking West Asian and African countries.
A large number of foreign workers had fled strife-torn Libya in last two weeks. At least 35,000 Bangladeshis were in the process of evacuation till Monday as Libya is passing through a civil war for a couple of weeks. A total of 5498 Bangladesh citizens were repatriated from the North African country. Of them, 521 returned home on Monday.
International Organization for Migration—UNHCR estimates that there are 44,232 third country nationals along the Egyptian and Tunisian borders with Libya [for evacuation]. Of them, about ‘80 percent are believed to be Bangladeshis’, IOM said in a release on Monday.
Those managing to get out ‘are recounting to us terrible stories of targeting, physical violence and of being held back from leaving,’ IOM director general William Lacy Swing said in a statement.
He urged Libya to allow all those wanting to leave the country safe passage out. Among other countries in the region, Saudi Arabian government imposed restrictions on agitation programmes as activists held protest rallies in Southern Saudi Arabia with a call for a ‘day of rage’.
In Bahrain, activists demonstrated in front of the US embassy in Manama on Monday calling for Washington to press Bahraini authorities for democratic reforms after weeks of political unrest. In Yemen, the opposition vowed to intensify protests against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after the embattled leader refused to resign by the end of the year.
Omani protesters demanding a clamp down on corruption in the Gulf state maintained vigils on Monday despite the sacking of two ministers and pledges to create jobs. Around 300 Jordanian relatives of Salafist Islamist prisoners, including Abu Mohammed al-Maqdessi, the onetime mentor of slain Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, demonstrated to demand their release.
Meanwhile, three Bangladesh nationals died after jumping from ship in Greece on Saturday night. Eleven, out of 47, who joined the whimsical ship jumping, are still missing, foreign ministry said in a release on Monday. Salim Chowdhury of Noakhali Sadar died in Tunisia of heart attack. His body will be flown to Dhaka by a Kuwait Airlines flight today [Tuesday]. The body of Jahangir Afrad, who died in Egypt, will be reaching Dhaka on Wednesday. They were trying to return home from strife-torn Libya.
News Source: The New Age