Expatriate Welfare Minister Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has said the Bangladeshi migrants in Iraq would be repatriated from the country if the situation deteriorates further.
He made the statement while talking to journalists after a meeting with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) regarding the risk of Bangladeshis living in Iraq on Sunday afternoon.
The minister said: “We do not think that such a situation has arrived that we should repatriate the Bangladeshi migrants immediately. But the government is fully prepared for it and we will bring them back if the situation worsens further.”
Khandaker Mosharraf further said: “IOM has helped us in evacuating Bangladeshis from Libya and they will help us in the same way if we need to evacuate Bangladeshis from Iraq.”
He also urged the Bangladeshi expatriates to stay calm and safe in Iraq.
The minister has also ordered the Bangladeshi ambassador living in Iraq to visit the camps and monitor the present situation of Bangladeshis.
He said: "Bangladeshi workers in Iraq, if necessary, can take temporary shelter in Iran by crossing the border. We have already discussed the issue with the Iranian Embassy in Dhaka."
There are around 25,000 Bangladeshis in Iraq. Of them, about 95 percent are safe in Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala and other southern cities.
However, the rest of the Bangladeshi migrants are passing their days in fear and anxiety as Sunni insurgents swept over a large part of the country's north area in the last two weeks.
According to media reports, expatriates have been suffering in inhuman conditions in an under-construction hospital building for the last 10 days in Tikrit city.
The Bangladesh embassy on Friday set up two hot-lines to assist the expatriates in Baghdad. The numbers are 00964-7816601805 and 00964-7814238351.