Why not bring them back
The High Court yesterday asked the government to explain in two weeks why it should not be directed to bring home Bangladeshi prisoners in Thailand.
In a rule, the court also asked the authorities concerned to show reasons why their inaction in this regard should not be declared illegal.
Secretaries to the ministries of expatriates' welfare, home, foreign, and Bangladeshi ambassador in Thailand were made respondents to the rule.
Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo came up with the rule following an editorial published in The Daily Star yesterday under the headline, “Bangladeshi detainees in Thailand”.
The editorial said some 350 Bangladeshis were reportedly held in prisons and detention centres in inhumane conditions in Thailand for allegedly intruding into its territory. The editorial urged immediate government's intervention for bringing the people back.
Supreme Court lawyer Md Asadullah placed copies of the newspaper editorial before the HC judges, praying for necessary directives.
Deputy Attorney General Amatul Karim told The Daily Star that she would inform the HC about the government's move to bring the detainees back.
Meanwhile, Additional Home Secretary Shafiqul Islam yesterday said they had already sent a list of 103 confirmed Bangladeshi detainees to the foreign ministry on Tuesday.
“After completion of the police verification of 105 detainees, we have already confirmed 103 as Bangladeshis, while that of the rest will be confirmed gradually.”
The Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand came to know about the detainees between last March and April this year.
An embassy official on Tuesday told The Daily Star that the figure of the Bangladeshi prisoners in Thailand might be around 600 who had been languishing there for the last six months.
The government will make arrangements to bring them back after the verification is completed, said a Bangladesh foreign ministry official.
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