Immigration or death trap?

Immigration is as old as the civilization itself. History tells us that the French, Dutch, Arabs and the British migrated to this part of the world at different times, looted our resources and made us subservient. Of them, the British ruled us for two hundred years. There was a time when people were involved in class struggle with the rulers to free themselves from exploitation and deprivation. Later, under changed circumstances, people changed their earlier stance and instead of struggling with the rulers they chose to repeat what their forefathers did thousands of years ago. That is, migrating across the seas to other lands for survival.    
Over the last couple of months newspapers have been reporting of migration by Rohingyas and Bangladeshis to Thailand and Malaysia by boats. Hundreds of people were leaving our shores everyday in an uncertain journey. But the people in charge of protecting our maritime boundaries were unaware of these risky ventures, which go to indicate that our maritime boundaries are not well guarded.   
Tragically, the migrants were not being able to get into the countries even after reaching their shores. If some of them could somehow make it, they were taken over by human traffickers. Their plight from deprivation at home ended in total disaster. The incidents that occurred on the Bay of Bengal or the Andaman Sea are evidences of utterly inhuman tragedies. Human rights charters containing over thousands of pages transpired to be an exercise in futility because the human rights of these people are brutally trampled under the boots of the traffickers and their godfathers.  
Bangladesh alone is not responsible for the sad saga of sea-bound migrants. We have Myanmar as our nearest neighbour. Social, economic, political and cultural relations between the two peoples date back several centuries. Myanmar had long been ruled by military rulers. But thanks to the humanist leader Aung San Suu Kyi, democracy is gradually taking its roots there. Over 80.0 per cent of the people in Myanmar are Tibetan Burmese, offshoots of the Karen and Shan sects and followers of Buddhism. Hindus, Muslims and Christians account for 10 to 15.0 per cent of the total population. Of them, the Rohingyas had been living in Arakan province for thousands of years. They are Muslims and speak Bangla although the official language of Myanmar is Burmese. Over the last few decades, the minority Rohingyas are being oppressed by the extreme Buddhist nationalists that compelled them to leave the country. Since Arakan is located along Bangladesh border, Rohingyas are compelled to migrate to Bangladesh illegally. So the reason behind their migration to Thailand and Malaysia is quite understandable. They are not recognised as citizens in their own country and are subjected to inhuman repression. And they are being joined by many Bangladeshis too. For the Rohingyas, any place is better than Myanmar because they are strangers in their own country and that is why, they are fleeing. But why do the migrants that include people with a homeland without ethnic or religious violence, repression or exploitation, stake their lives and leave the country? Is it for a better life and higher income?  
Bangladesh is soon going to be a middle income country. Its per capita income is climbing and foreign currency reserve is enviable. It is almost self-reliant in agriculture. Despite all these encouraging features, an unknown number of people are migrating. They are embarking on a risky venture on fishing trawlers with their eyes set on Thailand or Malaysia. But there is hardly any guarantee to reach either country. Instead, they keep floating on the Bay of Bengal or Andaman Sea with death looming as the only certitude.  
The issue of human rights can not be overlooked here just because they are illegal migrants. The three countries concerned (country of origin, country of transit and the country of destination) will have to work together to safeguard their human rights. People have been migrating from one place to another over the centuries. That is how immigration played an important role in building societies and civilizations. We, therefore, need to concentrate more on amending the laws and make the legal framework more immigration-friendly without just preventing the illegal migrants from entering a country.
The development indicators of our country show signs of continuous improvement -- increasing national income, rising export and foreign exchange earnings. What is not visibly improving is the state of rural economy and unemployment. Policy makers spend enough time in planning industrial development and development of energy sector, but they are far from taking up appropriate measures to eradicate rural poverty and unemployment.
 If we really hate to see any Bangladeshi in a mass grave or a prison in Malaysia or Thailand, we shall have to undertake plans for development of rural economy and poverty reduction. If these two aspects are taken care of, the number of illegal migrants will come down drastically. And we can have the real taste of freedom.
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