The Interior Ministry of Kuwait has planned to launch a massive crackdown on some 1,00,000 suspected illegal migrants, nearly 20,000 of who are Bangladeshis, and deport them.
Since the announcement that came late last month, the Kuwait police have arrested a total of 43 undocumented Bangladeshis.
Labour Councillor of the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait Abdul Latif Khan in a letter to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment on January 25, 2016 urged the government to take necessary steps regarding the undocumented Bangladeshis.
“The Bangladesh mission here is issuing out-passes for the arrested Bangladeshis to send them back to the country,” Latif told the Dhaka Tribune, adding that two lawyers were providing legal assistance to the arrestees.
They became undocumented because of failing to update their legal documents though they had come to Kuwait as legal workers, he said.
Officials say that a total of 261 Bangladeshis have been languishing in Kuwait jails since 2001. Around 5,00,000 Bangladeshi migrants are staying in the oil-rich Arab country.
Shakirul Islam, chairman of Obhibashi Kormi Unnayan Programme – an organisation working with the migrant workers, said that the government should immediately take a diplomatic move asking the Kuwaiti government to offer amnesty to the undocumented workers.
“And those who wish to come back home should be given a chance to return without facing any punishment,” he added.
Joint Secretary Kazi Abul Kalam said that they were yet to take any initiative in this regard.
“The Kuwaiti government never took this type of decision earlier. Obviously they will not send back only the Bangladeshi migrants. So all the countries will try through their diplomatic channels to convince the Kuwaiti government to offer amnesty.
“Our ministry will also tell the Kuwaiti authorities to give the migrants a scope unless they are involved in any criminal activities,” Kalam said.
