Shams Ahsan
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH – Saudi authorities have told Bangladesh that very soon there will be good news for its workers who have been facing problems in transferring their iqamas, disclosed Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni during a visit to Saudi Gazette here on Sunday.
Dr. Moni said that workers’ welfare issues were central to the discussions she had with Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense; Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and Labor Minister Adel Fakieh.
“I have been assured and reassured that they will look into the issue. Some even went as far as saying that we might be given good news very soon. I am eagerly waiting for good news,” she said.
Many Bangladeshi workers are unable to utilize the grace period to rectify their visa status because there has been a ban since 2008 on their sponsorship transfer.
“We did bring the issue,” said the foreign minister, adding that “once our people can transfer sponsorship it will be easier to take advantage of the grace period.”
“One month has already gone, people who are transferring are already doing so and so opportunities are also getting less and less. Those who enter late will have much less opportunity,” she said.
Dr. Moni said that she also apprised the Saudi authorities of the reforms implemented in Bangladesh to streamline and make the manpower sector transparent. “We have brought down the cost of migration, introduced a three-tier verification process, made the registration process transparent which can be done online. Now we don’t expect to see exploitation any more in this sector,” she said, highlighting the recent development of migration process through government-to-government collaboration as in the case with Malaysia.
She, however, expressed fears that if a large number of Bangladeshis go back home then there would be a big problem having many implications, not just financial but also political.
But at the same time the Bangladesh foreign minister hoped that the Saudi team, which recently visited Dhaka to see the migration process, would submit a positive report to the Saudi government and more Bangladesh workforce will be recruited in the future.
She welcomed Saudis to invest in the power sector as this sector is critically important for Bangladesh. She appreciated the continuing support by Saudi Arabia for project financing through Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).
As regards refugees coming from the violence-hit Myanmar, she said that Bangladesh was very sympathetic to them but cannot allow any more refugees to enter the country.
“We already have about 29,000 registered refugees and nearly 500,000 who are undocumented. The international burden sharing that was supposed to be there did not happen,” she said.
Dr. Moni gave the reasons how the presence of some of these refugees was creating problems in Bangladesh. “Unfortunately because of the conditions in Rakhine state, most of these people did not have education. They have always persecution. But they also hold very extremist views. This does not go well with our society. In many places where they are residing they outnumber the local ethnic minority. We also had some bad incidents of attacks on religious and ethnic minorities by these people. These are creating big problems for us.
“But within the camps in Bangladesh they are well taken care of. They have access to education. Even they get skills training. But the local population outside might not have access to all these things. So there is tension that these people have come from other country and that they are taken care of, but we are not.
“At the same time those 500,000 undocumented refugees are exploited, some time recruited by extremist groups and at the same time they take away jobs because they are desperate, creating tension in the local population.”
But despite all this, the government has been sympathetic to these refugees even though Bangladesh is not a signatory to the refugee convention or its protocols.
Dr. Moni, who is a trained lawyer, was very emphatic and categorical on the contentious issue of the International Crimes Tribunal and whether the nonagenarian Prof. Ghulam Azam should be released on humanitarian ground.
“They are being tried not because who they are today but because what they did in 1971,” she said, mentioning some the charges for which he is on trial.
“He gave the fatwa that women were the booties of war. He headed the auxiliary forces of the occupation army. All these atrocities were committed because these auxiliary forces helped the occupation army.
“They want to forget the past, but what about the three million victim families, what about 400,000 women who were violated. So many mothers already died hoping that some day they would get justice.
“There are still millions of families waiting for justice for over 42 years. And this 90-year-old man has not spent a single day in jail since his arrest. He is being treated in our best hospital. He is under supervision of a medical board. This person wanted to have all three meals cooked at his home and delivered to him. The government gave permission.”
The foreign minister also denied reports that atrocities were being committed in the camps housing Biharis or stranded Pakistanis.
“We have waited for 42 years; Pakistan has not taken them. So most of the Biharis born after 1971 don’t want to go to Pakistan. And through our high court order most of them became our citizens. They also participated in the last elections.
“But there are still a few very elderly people who still have in their shops photos of leaders of Pakistan and the Pakistani flag also.”
Dr. Moni called the withdrawal of Walt Disney Company from the Bangladesh garment market in response to the spate of fatal factory accidents a cowardly act.
“You owe us something. They wanted quality product on cheap price, and now when there is suffering they are abandoning the workers. I don’t think this is the right approach for any corporate house,” she said.
Appreciating the EU move, she said that it talked about encouraging responsible management and corporate social responsibility.
She blamed the recurring accidents on what she called the culture of impunity.
“We have problems which have accumulated over the years largely because of the culture of impunity that prevails in the country. We have a lot of unsafe buildings. This is a race against time. The prime minister has formed a Cabinet committee only on the garment sector. We have already allocated land for a garment village where all garment factories will be shifted.”
