Bangladesh to name metro rail stations after Japanese victims of 2016 terrorist attack

Bangladesh has decided to name metro rail stations after the Japanese victims of the Holey Artisan cafe attack, a decision applauded by Tokyo.

Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshiko Abe conveyed to her Bangladesh counterpart Md Shahriar Alam that Japan is “particularly happy” with the decision.

They met on Wednesday in Male on the sidelines of the 4th Indian Ocean Conference, the foreign ministry said.

She also expressed “gratitude” that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met all the family members of those victims during her visit to Japan in May.

Of the 22 killed on July 1, 2016 terrorist attack, seven were Japanese. They were JICA’s technical advisers. Japan is one of the biggest development partners of Bangladesh.

Six of them were surveyors for Dhaka’s Metrorail project, Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader then said.

The seven Japanese victims of Holey Artisan attack

Koyo Ogasawara, Katahira & Engineers International

Makoto Okamura, Almec Corp.

Yuko Sakai, Almec Corp.

Rui Shimodaira, Almec Corp.

Hiroshi Tanaka, Oriental Consultants Global

Nobuhiro Kurosaki, Oriental Consultants Global

Hideki Hashimoto, Oriental Consultants Global

Parts of the elevated way for metro rail is visible in Dhaka's Agargaon. This photo was clicked on Sunday. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

The state minister thanked Japan for facilitating the “very fruitful” visit of the prime minister.

Referring to the MoU signed last month in Tokyo, he expressed gratitude to the Japanese government for listing Bangladesh as a source country for skilled migration.

It was highlighted that both governments will work closely to deliver on the MoU as per agreement, the foreign ministry said.

He updated his Japanese counterpart on the latest status of over 1 million Rohingya being sheltered by Bangladesh, including Bangladesh’s concerns about security at the camps.

He underscored that Bangladesh needs the support of Japan for repatriation of the Rohingya in safety and dignity to Myanmar and to start moving them to Bhashan Char.

Both sides agreed on timely implementation of ODA.

Shahriar requested Japanese support for building a new Railway bridge over the river Jamuna.

The Japanese side reassured their support and cooperation to build the railway bridge over Jamuna.

The state minister is leading the Bangladesh delegation to the 4th Indian Ocean Conference being organised by India Foundation in association with the Government of Maldives and S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore from Sep 3-4.

He is also a member of the IOC Organising Committee. The theme of IOC 2019 is "Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional and Non-Traditional Challenges".