123 more Bangladeshis sent back from Kuwait

FE Team | Published: August 01, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The Kuwait government sent another 123 Bangladeshi workers back Thursday morning, bringing the total to 201 since the Gulf kingdom announced Wednesday that it would deport Bangladeshis who were involved in violence during recent unrest over low pay, reports bdnews24.com.

"According to the Zia International Airport (ZIA) officials, 78 Bangladeshis returned Wednesday night, and 123 arrived in ZIA from Kuwait Thursday morning on two separate flights," Secretary of the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Abdul Matin Chowdhury told the news agency.

On the confusion over returning numbers in various newspaper reports published Thursday, the secretary said: "Communications with ZIA personnel had given rise to some anomalies in the number of returning Bangladeshis.

"People when deported are provided with alternative papers. Again, there were some who came back carrying their regular passports - that's how the anomalies occurred."

ZIA Immigration Chief Mahfuza Begum told the agency: "A Kuwait and a Qatar Airways flight carried 123 Bangladeshis back home Thursday morning."

South Asian workers in Kuwait, including hundreds of Bangladeshis, staged demonstrations and went on strike Saturday demanding better working standards and pay.

Newspapers in the Gulf kingdom reported that some workers were paid as little as 8.0 Kuwaiti dinars ($30 or Tk 2000) a month. Since the incidents of unrest, the Kuwait government had said it would increase the minimum wage of foreign workers to 40 dinars ($151 or Tk 10,300).

However, the Kuwaiti authorities also announced Wednesday that they would examine video footage and photographs of protesting workers to find out those responsible for damaging vehicles and attacking the police, and deport them.

The Kuwait police arrested at least 800 Bangladeshi workers during the demonstrations. Of them 300 were released later as no charges could be substantiated against them.

The Kuwaiti government has assured Bangladesh mission officials that all "innocent" workers will be spared after investigations.