Manpower export to Bahrain stops
August 27, 2008
Employment of Bangladeshi workers in Bahrain comes to a halt, as the country on Monday stopped issuing work permits to Bangladeshis, Bahraini newspaper Gulf Daily News reported yesterday.
The Bangladesh embassy in Bahrain says the move is “shocking” and “unacceptable” and they will pursue the Gulf nation to review the decision. Bahraini human rights activists also term it “xenophobic”.
Recruitment businesses observe the ban is a great shock for Bangladesh’s overseas labour market that came after a halt of recruitment in Kuwait in late 2006, reduction in employment in Saudi Arabia and a temporary ban in Malaysia.
Jobseekers now in Bahrain with work visas but yet to get work permit and those with visas but yet to leave for Bahrain will be in troubles, agencies told The Daily Star yesterday.
The recent restriction came following directives by Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and was revealed in a statement by search and follow-up assistant under-secretary Colonel Yousuf Al Ghatam.
Earlier on Sunday, a group of lawmakers demanded ban on Bangladeshi workers following death of Mohammed Jassim Dossary killed in an attack after an argument with a Bangladeshi mechanic at a workshop in Suq Waqif, Hamad Town on Friday.
Bahrain, which is home to around 1.6 lakh Bangladeshis, is presently the third largest manpower receiving country in the Persian Gulf.
Bangladesh Embassy Charge d’ Affairs Saiful Islam told The Gulf Daily News on Monday the move had left them in shock and said officials would appeal against it.
“For one person the government is punishing a whole nation, which is not acceptable to us,” he said. “We will appeal to the government to reconsider this and I will contact the interior minister and other high-ranking officials.”
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury yesterday told The Daily Star they have not yet received the news from Bahrain but read it on newspapers.
“Our mission in Bahrain is already contacting Bahrain side about the matter,” he said.
In a reaction to the ban, a recruiting agent said this particular country is not a very big labour market for Bangladesh, but the fact is that it will have bad impact on Bangladeshi workers.
Meanwhile, vehemently opposing the Bahraini MPs’ demand, now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights vice-president Nabeel Rajab told The Gulf Daily News on Monday the move is “racist” and “shameful”.
“If a Bahraini commits a similar or even worse crime what action would they take? Would they deport all Bahrainis from here?
“If an American or a European had committed the crime instead of the Bangladeshi, would the MPs dare raise their voice against them, forget imposing a ban on their countries? This is pure racial discrimination.
“Bangladeshis, like all other expatriate nationalities, should first be appreciated for all the contributions they have made to our country. Instead, our MPs forget the hard work and sweat of thousands of expatriates and plan to deport them all based on one person’s actions.”
Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society regional and international relations director Faisal Fulad said a group of lawmakers’ proposal was against Bahraini culture and heritage.
“We are against this move because it is absolutely wrong to ban a whole nation for one person’s crime,” said Mr Fulad, who is also a Shura Council member.
“People from every country have flaws in their characters in one way or the other, including Bahrainis. That doesn’t mean that all of them should be sent back home.
“It is up to the court to decide the punishment and not MPs.”
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