No trace of 598
At least 598 Bangladeshis have been missing since they, lured by traffickers, set out on perilous sea voyages between October 31, 2013 and April 15 this year to illegally migrate to Malaysia.
A Malaysia-based non-government organisation submitted a list of these trafficking victims to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Bangladesh yesterday.
CARAM Asia Bhd, the NGO working on migrant rights, also asked the government to trace and repatriate them.
"We are very concerned about the rising number of trafficking victims in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, we are yet to see any stern action from the government in this regard. Even there's no official data on the victims. So, we are now preparing a list of the missing people from across the country," said Mohammad Harun Al Rashid, regional coordinator of CARAM Asia.
He was talking to The Daily Star after handing over the list to Imam Uddin Kabir, deputy director of the NHRC.
Imam said they would first verify the claims and then decide on further actions.
Relatives of 12 of the missing people were present at the NHRC during handover of the list.
And, the stories they told were similar to those of other victims of the modern-day slave trade, as the clandestine business is often called.
The victims were lured by traffickers with promises of lucrative jobs in Malaysia. Then they were put on boats and taken to some jungle in Thailand from where the traffickers called the victims' relatives in Bangladesh and demanded ransom. Some paid, some failed but all of them were yet to get their near ones back home.
Delwar Hossain of Habiganj paid Tk 2.1 lakh on May 15 for the release of his younger brother Emdadul Hossain, who left home for Malaysia on April 2.
On June 6, he got a phone call from an unknown person who told him that his brother was held hostage in a camp. The next day, he called that number and talked to his brother
"My brother said he was taken to a Thai detention centre along with some 20 or 25 Bangladeshis. He cried to me and requested me to immediately arrange his return. But an unknown man then told me over the phone that we must pay TK 1.20 lakh for my brother's release from the Thai jail.
"The traffickers kept pressing for the money. They called me even this morning [yesterday]," Delwar said.
However, Harun Al Rashid of CARAM Asia said they had information that Emdadul along with 19 others were rescued by Thai authorities on Saturday from a camp run by the traffickers.
Not everyone was as lucky as Delwar and Emdad.
Take Halima Akter of Araihazar upazila in Narayanganj. Her husband Royel Mia left home for Malaysia in March with two other relatives. But now she has no clue to his whereabouts.
"He was the lone breadwinner for our six-member family. Now I cannot afford to send my children to school. My little sons have to work as day labourers for our livelihood," she said.
Relatives of six more victims from the same area were also present at the NHRC office.
Mosharraf, Abu Hanifa, Afsar Uddin, Sabuj, Mainuddin and Sharif -- all aged between 15 and 20 -- left home between March and April this year. Since then, their families are in the dark about their fate, the relatives said.
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