Should govt continue to be an onlooker?

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Shamsul Huq Zahid
Yet another report about the possible drowning of 300 Bangladeshi job seekers, who were on their way of entering Malaysia illegally by six boats, has hit the headlines of local as well as international media.
The victims are feared to have drowned near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. However, there were conflicting reports about their drowning.
The Indian news agency, IANS, quoting an Indian defence official reported that after intercepting the boat people, the Thai authorities had put them on a pontoon tied to ship to deport them. But they had quietly released the rope and the pontoon started drifting.
The Times of India website said the boat people, who included Bangladeshis, after being detained for four weeks, were transferred to a non-mechanised vessel with some bags of rice and set 'adrift off the Thai coast 12 days ago". The men had little food and water and a plastic sheet as a makeshift sail, Mohammad Ismail Arafat, one of the survivors of the tragic incident, reportedly, told the Indian officials.
The Indian coastguard last Sunday found the vessel with 88 men still on board from an original group of 412 near the Little Andaman Island, about 90 km south of Port Blair. Four more people were rescued next day.
The Indian Navy has been conducting searches for the missing men since then.
If the IANS report is true then the victims themselves invited more trouble. The Times of India report, quoting one of the survivors, highlights the inhuman attitude of the Thai authorities towards those poor people who put their lives at stake just to find jobs abroad.
Arafat told the Indian Navy officials that he and others had paid a Bangladeshi agent for promised jobs in Malaysia.
This is not the first tragic incident involving Bangladeshi fortune seekers. A number of reports about their deaths in high seas, deserts, rough mountainous terrain and freezer vans while trying to entering countries in Europe and the USA were published earlier in local as well as international media. But nothing could prevent them from taking part in unknown and dangerous journeys. Many have died on their way and some others landed in jails in foreign lands. The government does have some statistics on such deaths and prisoners. But, possibly, there are many incidents that go unreported.
The government, unfortunately, despite a number of tragic incidents, has failed to create awareness among the prospective jobseekers about the dangers of making attempts of enter other countries illegally. Nor it could give exemplary punishment to the recruiting agents responsible for putting the lives of the innocent job seekers at stake.
The authorities concerned, apparently, for reasons best known to them, are found quite lenient to the rouge manpower agents. Otherwise, after so many incidents involving the tragic deaths of many job seekers, how could the law enforcers fail to catch and punish, at least, one unscrupulous manpower agent. Even one incident of severe punishment would have acted as a deterrent to such crimes that are being committed unabatedly.
The money remitted by the Bangladeshi workers abroad plays a key role in keeping the country's balance of payments at a comfortable level. The government encourages people to take up jobs abroad so that it can earn more. But, obviously, it does not want the citizens to put their lives at stake to go abroad and send money back home.
However, the situation demands that the government adopts a law having provisions for severe punishment, including life imprisonment, for deceiving the unsuspecting job seekers and making attempts to send them abroad through illegal routes.
An elected government is set to take over the rein of the country's administration soon. The families of the victims of unscrupulous manpower agents would expect that government to pass such a law without any delay and ask the law enforcers to round up and punish the agents responsible for eluding poor job seekers to take part in uncertain and dangerous journeys.
Besides, funds for launching an extensive campaign to make the prospective job seekers aware of the dangers of falling in the well laid-out trap by the unscrupulous manpower agents should not be a problem. The government does collect a good amount of money every year from the people going abroad taking up jobs in the name of their welfare.