29 Job-seekers Detained In Bangkok

[churchill]

By Ahmed Abid in Bangkok and Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka

Dhaka, Aug 29 (bdnews24.com)--Twenty-nine Bangladeshis are waiting to hear from the Bangladesh embassy for the last four months about their repatriation after landing in an immigration detention centre in Bangkok.

Coast guards of Myanmar and Thailand detained them in the sea as they started a dangerous journey by a fishing trawler to reach Malaysia to eke out a better living, according to our correspondent in Bangkok.

Officials at the foreign ministry, however, have told bdnews24.com that the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok had had no information about the detention of Bangladeshis in Thailand.

Iqbal Hossain, 25, one of the detained illegal migrants, told bdnews24.com in the Thai capital that the poor people, mostly day-labourers from Cox's Bazar and Patia, were detained and treated badly by Myanmar coast guards.

Hossain, who had his national ID (2222401529919) issued from Cox's Bazaar district, said he boarded a boat after paying Tk 16,000 to a manpower agent. He managed the money by selling off gold ornaments of his mother and sister.

Mohammed Hossain, 17, a grade 10 student, could not walk properly after the torture by the Myanmarese guards.

Then, he said, they were pushed to the Thai coast in early January this year.

Thai coast guard caught them 11 days after they had set out and passed them as Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

However, he said, the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok did not provide them any support, which meant they could not approach the Thai authorities for repatriation. They have been living in the immigration detention centre with 93 Rohingya refugees.

He said he had boarded the trawler on Dec 23 from Baiskhaslki, Gondamara village.

"I urge Bangladesh government to take me back or I will commit suicide," Hossain, who claimed himself to be the only survivors of the group travelled, told bdnews24.com.

A Thai NGO, People's Empowerment, has been trying to provide them food during the month of Ramadan.

"Our mission (in Bangkok) has no such information," Kazi Imtiyaz Hossain, a foreign ministry director general, told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

Foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes authorised him to talk to bdnews24.com.

Another foreign ministry official, asking he not be named, told bdnews24.com that the embassy could not recognise any trafficked person as Bangladesh national unless their identities were ascertained.

Burmese Rohingya refugees and Bangali-speaking Indians also claim themselves as Bangladeshis when they are caught abroad, said the official.

http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=141277&cid=2

[dale8]

Hello, it is sad for the people that only want a better life for themselves and their family so they go to another country only to be put in prison with no way out. It is a slap in their face that their embassy will not do anything to help them, and they have no hope for a better life as they are treated like cattle.

[dkstoney]

Uncontrolled migration is detrimental to the economic stability of any region. At the very least, they should be repatriated at the expense of their nation. No need to keep them jailed up. Why waste the time, money, manpower, and effort to do so? Just send them home.

[bartlett]

thais love thais

screw anyone else -

unless you have lots of money ....then- " welcome "(big smile )

[SoiGirlHunter]

amen bart

[hardy1943]

thais love thais

screw anyone else -

unless you have lots of money ....then- " welcome "(big smile )

I second that motion

[tigerboy]

thais love thais

screw anyone else -

unless you have lots of money ....then- " welcome "(big smile )

I second that motion

Third... Anyone else???

[MyphuketLife]

thais love thais

screw anyone else -

unless you have lots of money ....then- " welcome "(big smile )

I second that motion

Third... Anyone else???

++++

[ThaiFelix]

Hello, it is sad for the people that only want a better life for themselves and their family so they go to another country only to be put in prison with no way out. It is a slap in their face that their embassy will not do anything to help them, and they have no hope for a better life as they are treated like cattle.

Fully agree. I have always felt for refugees. Most of us (I guess) chose to leave our home countries for whatever reason. But these people are forced to leave either by economics, religion, ethnicity etc. These people come from a different space than us westerners. Family ties are greater, as are ties to the land etc. It must be very hard to not only have to leave your home but also to endure/survive these perilous journeys.

I had the good fortune to employ, and became close with, a Vietnamese refugee family in Oz quite some years back and the stories of pirates, coast guards and conditions were harrowing. And only to end up in a Thai jail.

I sure am glad I was born where I was.

[MUYTHAI]

thais love thais

screw anyone else -

unless you have lots of money ....then- " welcome "(big smile )

Spot on mate.

Rule #1. Never take out a life insurance policy on yourself if you marry a Thai woman. You might end up a victim of "suicide".

[ahkuoi]

thais love thais

screw anyone else -

unless you have lots of money ....then- " welcome "(big smile )

I second that motion

Third... Anyone else???

++++

count me in +++++