Kuwait has deported more Bangladeshi workers in an apparent breach of its commitment that it will not send back any Bangladeshi workers unless they create further trouble in the Gulf sheikhdom, report agencies.
Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury wrote a letter to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) of Kuwait Dr Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah Tuesday requesting his "personal initiative" to resolve all outstanding issues with regard to Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait.
According to immigration officials at Zia International Airport, at least 164 workers were packed back to Bangladesh Monday and Tuesday, after Kuwaiti authorities made the commitment to Bangladesh embassy officials on August 3.
"At least 74 Bangladeshis returned from Kuwait on Tuesday on a Kuwaiti airlines flight," Nazir Hossain, officer-in-charge of airport immigration, said.
With the Monday and Tuesday figures, Kuwaiti authorities have deported no fewer than 527 Bangladeshis on charge of violating Kuwaiti laws.
Bangladesh embassy officials met Sunday with officials of Kuwait's social welfare, labour and finance ministries in trying to settle the workers' unpaid wages and other benefits.
The Kuwaiti government would not deport any Bangladeshi unless they create further trouble there, a Bangladesh foreign ministry press statement said Monday.
Around 86,000 Bangladeshi workers had returned to their workplaces in Kuwait until Sunday, the ministry said.
Kuwaiti authorities arrested 850 Bangladeshis who took part in the four-day strike and released 400 of them, the statement said.
Some 150,000 Bangladeshis work in Kuwait.
The migrant workers, mainly Bangladeshis, took to the street demanding pay hikes, regular payment of wages and better working conditions. They continued their strike for three consecutive days.
The Kuwaiti police and the military crushed the demonstration Wednesday last and made indiscriminate arrests of Bangladeshis before deporting them with the cloth they were on.
