Apart from India, Nepal and U.K. also deport a large number in recent days
By Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA: In recent years, migration has become more difficult for Bangladeshi immigrants, in the context of unsettled economic/political conditions worldwide, the continuing Ukraine war and the US/Iran conflict. Somewhat worryingly for the present BNP Government it seems the hard times will continue for Bangladeshis ,as the situation in the country’s ‘near abroad’ — Nepal and India — has also worsened sharply, migration-wise.
Despite enjoying good relations with Bangladesh, Nepal is deporting 15 Bangladeshis for not only overstaying illegally, but for running a digital crime syndicate from the Kathmandu suburbs. This follows the detection and arrest only some days ago of 24 Bangladeshis for illegal entry, overstay and related reasons.
Nepalese authorities, alerted by intelligence agencies about the syndicate, have been surprised by the high-tech criminal activities of Bangladeshi migrants so close to their national capital.. The detection and punishment of foreign nationals who enter the country illegally or overstay, is not uncommon. But most of these 15 people had come into the country on tourist visas and then stayed on. They were operating their racket. using smartphones, chips, sim cards, computers and sundry other equipment from three rooms in a hotel..
However, a few were also working in the garment factories in the nearby Sitapaila and Dallu areas. This seemed to suggest that the members of the gang did not arrive as a single team. Some had come earlier and helped organise the set up as others turned up later.
Police are trying to ascertain whether this was just a one-off operation or there were bigger brains financing the group, serving dubious criminal/political interests. Preliminary reports indicate that the members had targeted and harassed various people within the local Indian community, getting them involved in honeytraps and subjecting them to various forms of blackmail.
As with official authorities elsewhere, it is usually not difficult for tourists to secure permission to visit Nepal. Most tourists observe the rules. But as this incident is being probed, a section of the police and security officials is worried about criminals using the territory of Nepal as a base for their criminal operations. People still talk of how the Pak intelligence agency ISI used facilities in Nepal to carry out the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Afghanistan via Pakistan years ago.
In the present instance the choice of Nepal could be explained as a move by Bangladeshi miscreants to create tensions and misunderstanding between Kathmandu and Delhi, according to security analysts in Kolkata. There is already a suggestion according to some reports that from now on, papers/document of Bangladeshi visitors would be checked more rigorously to prevent further crimes.
Nepal apart, illegal Bangladesh migrants have had a hard time while trying to enter other countries. From India alone, nearly 5000 people were detected and deported from West Bengal, Tripura and other areas after the Assembly elections in West Bengal, while the fate of another 3000 people currently held in various centres is yet to be decided. There have been sporadic incidents of violence and spells of tension at the international border in pockets where GOI is trying to put up a barbed wire fence well within Indian territory.
News about Bangladeshi migrants from other countries too, have hardly brought cheers for Dhaka in recent times. In the UK alone, nearly 11,000 would be migrants who tried to secure political asylum to ensure permanent settlement, were sent back, during the last 18 months. Of the total 21525 Bangladeshis applying from 2023 for asylum in the UK, only 5%or so were allowed in, according to officials. The number of applicants again, had increased by 154% in a single year– surely, a measure of the average Bangladeshi’s desperation to quit home and settle abroad.
The US sent back 39 Bangladeshis who lacked official identity documents some time ago, while Libyan officials have deported 140 Bangladeshis since Dec 2023. In Oct 2024, Malaysia arrested 21 Bangladeshis who had entered the country posing as ‘athletes’. In the UAE some time ago, 57 Bangladeshis were arrested and given long prison terms for allegedly demonstrating against — of all things — domestic policies of the Bangladeshi government. And now the BNP government has been in touch with UAE authorities to ascertain why such long term sentences were declared.
Indian Border Security force and other agencies thwarted over 1100 attempts made by illegal migrants trying to get in from Bangladesh.
Despite routine assurances from Bangladesh Government to other countries that they would do their best to prevent illegal immigration, the pressures of economic and other factors continue to drive the Bangladeshi diaspora by hook or crook. Along with Pakistanis, Afghans, Somalians, Indians and Nigerians etc they undertake risky journeys to European and other shores, dying in hundreds in natural disasters, every year. The number of Bangladeshis currently working/settled abroad is around 8.6 million, which is the third highest in South Asia. Remittances sent home by this large group from all major countries of the world helps finance a large part of the country’s annual budget and remains a major pillar of its economic progress.
Given these conditions, hard times or not, Bangladeshi emigration is bound to continue in the near future and beyond, illegal or otherwise, according to experts familiar with the phenomenon. (IPA Service)
