Bangladesh raises workers security issue with Maldives

The Maldives’ President Abdulla Yameen has ordered enhanced security for expatriate Bangladeshi community after Dhaka’s envoy drew his attention to the murder of two workers within a week, the foreign ministry has said.

Shahin Mia was stabbed to death in a café on Sunday in the tiny island nation’s capital.
 
‘Bilal’ was found dead in the remote Toordhoo island the next day, the ministry confirmed on Thursday after several media enquiries and reports.
 
Allegations of many deaths are there as several Bangladeshis called up Dhaka newspaper offices giving their versions of the situation.
 
The foreign ministry, however, could not say what the motives behind those murders were.
 
Bangladeshis had planned to stage a “peaceful” protest on Friday, but the Maldives authorities have reportedly threatened to cancel their visas if they did so.
 
A local human rights group has termed the warning “unconstitutional”.
 
The foreign ministry, in a statement, said Bangladesh’s high commissioner had taken up the matter “immediately” with the authorities in the Maldives.
 
“The Bangladesh High Commissioner Rear Admiral Kazi Sarwar Hossain had a meeting with the President of Maldives, Abdulla Yameen, regarding the development. He urged the home minister to enhance security.”
 
Hossain also met members of the Bangladeshi community on Wednesday and briefed them about the situation and “requested them to remain calm and cautious”.
 
The foreign ministry said the government was also monitoring the situation.
 
According to the Maldivian media, at least three more foreign nationals had also been attacked this week.
 
None could pinpoint the reason, but local media said just before those incidents, a violent confrontation had taken place between Lhiyanu Café staff where the workers worked and a group of young men on Saturday. 
 
The expatriate workers had reportedly refused to serve free coffee.
 
The group vandalised the café before leaving the place. Police, however, could not arrest anyone, according to the Malé media.
 
The Indian Ocean nation is heavily dependent on migrant workers. More than 70 percent of its 111,000 expatriate workers are from Bangladesh, mostly engaged in the construction and service sectors.
 
But there have been concerns about workers’ rights in that country.
 
The US State Department in its 2014 Trafficking in Persons report described the Maldives as a “destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking”.
 
Maldives is facing an unprecedented economic meltdown that has forced it to even shut many overseas missions, including in Bangladesh.
 
Local media described the pitiable living conditions of Bangladeshi workers while reporting the murder.
 
The online portal, CNM, quoting an anonymous Bangladeshi national, said, “Maldivians treat Bangladeshis inhumanely and, on top of that, attacks on foreigners have seen a sudden rise”.