The government has planned to ask International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Red Cross for help for the rescue of two Bangladeshis, who were abducted by Islamic State in Libya on March 6.
“We will seek their help in the search for the two Bangladeshi men. We will also ask for suggestions about what we should do in this situation,” said Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain while talking to reporters at his office yesterday.
He said letters would be sent to the two organisations in this regard soon.
Helal Uddin from Jamalpur and Mohammad Anowar Hossain from Noakhali are among the nine foreigners who were abducted by Islamic State militants from Al Ghani oil field near Sirte, about 700km south-east of Libyan capital Tripoli.
The abductions have raised fear and concern among around 40,000 Bangladeshis currently living in Libya. Most of them reside in Tripoli and adjacent areas.
The Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli earlier wrote to the government, asking for a move to take back Bangladeshi migrants from Libya.
But Mosharraf said such a decision would spread a negative message among the migrants.
“Besides, no other country who has its nationals working in Libya has taken any such initiative,” he said.
“The Libyan Foreign Ministry has informed the Bangladesh mission in Tripoli that earnest efforts are underway to rescue the abductees,” added the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister.
