All Bangladeshi BRAC staff to be withdrawn
Monday, 27 October 2008
Bangladesh requested Sunday the Afghan authorities to make all possible efforts to secure the release of the two BRAC employees abducted in Ghazni recently, report BSS/bdnews24.com/UNB.
Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury invited the Afghan ambassador in Dhaka to his office Sunday morning and handed over a letter addressed to Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
Ambassador Ahmed Karim Nawabi assured the Foreign Adviser that the Afghan authorities would provide all possible cooperation to secure the release of the two BRAC employees Md. Akhter Ali and Md. Shahjahan.
Meanwhile, an executive director of BRAC said the organisation will withdraw all its 150 Bangladeshi staff from Afghanistan in the next five years.
Akhter Ali and Mohammad Shahjahan Ali, area managers for BRAC Afghanistan, were kidnapped Thursday from the Afghan province of Ghazni, where they both had been working for the last three years.
It was the third such incident involving BRAC staff in Afghanistan in just over a year.
Abdul Alim, a BRAC official, was killed on September 12, 2007 by unidentified gunmen.
Foreign Adviser said BRAC runs 250 institutions across Afghanistan extending micro-credit to 0.2 million women and health services to five lakh women. Besides, BRAC set up 4,000 schools in Afghanistan.
"I would like to urge the abductors to release these innocent officials as Bangladeshis are working in Afghanistan for welfare of the Afghan people, nothing more," the Adviser said.
Afghan Ambassador Nawabi said the Afghan authorities will make all possible efforts to rescue the Bangladeshi brothers.
BRAC official Aminul Islam said they maintain contacts with the Afghan Home Minister and the Relief and Reconstruction Minister who are trying hard to trace them out. Besides, Afghan security forces are also working to find them out.
Islam said some 4,000 Afghans and 150 Bangladeshi BRAC employees are working over there.
"There were 392 Bangladeshi BRAC staff when the [abduction of Nur Islam] took place. We then reduced the number of Bangladeshi staff to 150," Aminul Alam, BRAC's executive director (overseas programmes), said after a meeting with the foreign adviser on Sunday.
"We will withdraw all of the 150 Bangladeshi workers from Afghanistan within the next five years," Alam had told reporters earlier.
Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury invited the Afghan ambassador in Dhaka to his office Sunday morning and handed over a letter addressed to Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
Ambassador Ahmed Karim Nawabi assured the Foreign Adviser that the Afghan authorities would provide all possible cooperation to secure the release of the two BRAC employees Md. Akhter Ali and Md. Shahjahan.
Meanwhile, an executive director of BRAC said the organisation will withdraw all its 150 Bangladeshi staff from Afghanistan in the next five years.
Akhter Ali and Mohammad Shahjahan Ali, area managers for BRAC Afghanistan, were kidnapped Thursday from the Afghan province of Ghazni, where they both had been working for the last three years.
It was the third such incident involving BRAC staff in Afghanistan in just over a year.
Abdul Alim, a BRAC official, was killed on September 12, 2007 by unidentified gunmen.
Foreign Adviser said BRAC runs 250 institutions across Afghanistan extending micro-credit to 0.2 million women and health services to five lakh women. Besides, BRAC set up 4,000 schools in Afghanistan.
"I would like to urge the abductors to release these innocent officials as Bangladeshis are working in Afghanistan for welfare of the Afghan people, nothing more," the Adviser said.
Afghan Ambassador Nawabi said the Afghan authorities will make all possible efforts to rescue the Bangladeshi brothers.
BRAC official Aminul Islam said they maintain contacts with the Afghan Home Minister and the Relief and Reconstruction Minister who are trying hard to trace them out. Besides, Afghan security forces are also working to find them out.
Islam said some 4,000 Afghans and 150 Bangladeshi BRAC employees are working over there.
"There were 392 Bangladeshi BRAC staff when the [abduction of Nur Islam] took place. We then reduced the number of Bangladeshi staff to 150," Aminul Alam, BRAC's executive director (overseas programmes), said after a meeting with the foreign adviser on Sunday.
"We will withdraw all of the 150 Bangladeshi workers from Afghanistan within the next five years," Alam had told reporters earlier.