Bangladeshi nurses in Libya

Reports of Bangladeshi medical staff, especially nurses, not being allowed to leave embattled Libya are worrying. As our correspondent now in Choucha on the Tunisia-Libya frontier notes, a number of Bangladeshis fleeing Libya have spoken of many nurses being compelled to work in hospitals, tending to those wounded in the armed clashes between government and rebel forces. It is also quite natural to suppose that many of the wounded are individuals caught in the air raids over Libya by western forces. While it is perfectly understandable that those wounded in the war as also others will be in need of treatment, it is inconceivable that foreigners working in these hospitals will be detained against their will.
Libya is now in a state of increasing devastation as a result of the military clashes between Col. Gaddafi's forces and the opposition. Add to that the attacks launched on his forces by the West. In such conditions, with uncertainty surrounding the state of things, tens of thousands of foreign migrant workers have chosen to make their way out of the country. Bangladeshis working in Libya happen to include a diversity of professional groups --- doctors, nurses, teachers, factory workers and others --- all of whom are now in a quandary as to how to save themselves by fleeing. Many have already returned home, albeit empty-handed. But with the Libyan forces reportedly not allowing some women nurses from Bangladesh by having them get off a vehicle taking them to the border, the situation can only be imagined.
We think the Libyan authorities, for all the desperate straits they are in, should be approached by the Bangladesh mission in Tripoli regarding an uninterrupted departure of our nurses from that country. Obviously the Libyans cannot guarantee their safety of life. And compelling the nurses to stay back amounts to treating them as hostages. That is unacceptable.