Unemployed youths, mainly from the lower income group, fall prey to the human-traffickers, who allure them by offering lucrative jobs in Malaysia and other countries.
With the recent discoveries of many mass-graves and slave-camps in the jungles of Malaysia and Thailand the reports of a large number of people missing from across the country have started coming to light.
Badol Molla, father of Tarek Molla (19), has been waiting for return of his son, who remained missing for the last three months.
Tarek Molla, who hailed from Charnishi Boyra of Sirajganj, last contacted his family on April 01. Then he told his father that he was not well, and their boat was held by Indonesian law-enforcers.
Tarek, the elder son of Mr Molla, was a worker at a power-loom factory, and left home for Malaysia without informing the family, said his father.
"If I could perceive his intention, I would have never allowed his perilous trip."
Local middleman Bahar lured Tarek with the promise of giving him a lucrative job in Malaysia. But now that person is refuting any involvement in this incident, he mentioned.
"We are now very worried, as a large number of mass-graves have been detected in Thailand and Malaysia. I am at a loss what to do in search of my son," he added.
Shah Alam (25), another power-loom factory worker of the same district, has been missing for one and a half years.
Jahangir Alam, brother of the trafficked victim, said Shah Alam suddenly phoned us, saying "I am going to Malaysia, don't worry about me, after landing there I will tell you everything in details." After that the phone was disconnected.
"We tried to connect the phone nearly two hundred times, but it remained switched off."
After 13 days someone gave us a call from a trawler, informing that Shah Alam had died of hunger, and the dead-body was thrown into the sea.
"But my mother is yet to believe this, and she is still waiting with the hope that her son will come back one day," he further said.
Sona Mia of Kaendi village at Araihazar in Narayanganj has been madly looking for his son Mujibor and son-in-law Akhtar Hossain for more than a year.
The two were sent by boat from Teknaf for Malaysia some 18 months back, he said.
Sona Mia, a rickshaw-puller, has already spent Tk 70,000 to find out his sons.
"We went to Dhaka manpower office and also filed cases with Teknaf police in this connection."
But the authorities concerned did not help him to find out his sons. Moreover, they misbehaved with him, he alleged.
"Not only my family members, but also 16 youths from the same upazila were trafficked by Yakub, a local middleman."
"I don't know what to do, as I cannot manage my eight-member family with little earnings," he added.
Like Tarek or Akhtar Hossain, a large number of Bangladeshis from several districts have been missing. Their families are now more concerned, as more than hundred of mass-graves have recently been discovered in Thailand and Malaysia.
Sohel Rana, executive director of Development for Disadvantaged People (DPP) in Sirajganj, said a significant number of people have been trafficked from the district in the last one year.
Uneducated people from lower income group are the target of the human-traffickers.
According to him, within last 25 days nearly 30 people disappeared from different villages, like - Hatikumrul, Charnishi Boyra and Kamarkhand.
Besides, two months back the number of missing people was 60 to 70. And more than 5,000 people have been missing for the last one and a half years, said the local migrants' rights activist.
He said most of the victims' families are not filing cases, as the middlemen are threatening them of dire consequences, if they file cases.
"Police also do not cooperate with the families, as they do not file cases under the trafficking laws. Only 11 charges have been framed so far, and mostly in kidnapping cases," he concluded.
Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme (OKUP) chairman Shakirul Islam said a large number of people from their project areas at Araihazar of Narayanganj and Narsingdi Sadar remained missing.
The people did not inform their families while travelling to Malaysia, fearing opposition against their mission.
During September-December 2013 period, the organisation received some 400 complaints from its project areas in the two districts about clandestine journeys to Malaysia.
According to an OKUP study, 76 per cent of the voyagers are between 18 and 30 years old, 20 per cent 31 to 40 years old, and four per cent are below 18 or over 40 years.
A report of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) showed nearly 20,000 Bangladeshis travelled through sea-routes between 2013 and 2014.
Experts attribute lower overseas employment facilities, high migration cost in Middle East, internal unemployment, and poor vigilance in coastal areas to surge in recent human smuggling.
They said employment opportunities are not increasing compared to the rate of unemployed people in the country, encouraging illegal migration and trafficking.
BMET data shows that 131,400 people went to Malaysia with jobs in 2008, but the number drastically declined to 5,134 in 2014. About 132,000 Bangladeshis went to Saudi Arabia in 2008, while the number dropped to only 10,670 in 2014.
In absence of separate tribunal and victim supports as well as for other loopholes, people are not getting expected result from the existing law in cases of human trafficking.
Migrant rights activists and victims said if there had been exemplary punishment meted out to criminals, the situation would not reach such an alarming level.
arafat_ara@hotmail.com
Fear for worst grips families of the missing
Arafat Ara | Published: May 30, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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