Fishermen's ordeal

In September last their boat had capsized in the rough waters of Bay of Bengal. They were ultimately rescued by Indian coast guards who sent them into a trawler over to a nearby port in Orissa.

These fishermen have been brought back home after their long stay in India with the commendable efforts of an NGO in Bangladesh. We express our sincerest appreciation for the help and assistance of the Indian authorities and the extraordinary efforts of the human rights organisation that was instrumental in bringing them back home.

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The entire issue was nothing but a humanitarian one. We are of the opinion that given a level of awareness between the relevant authorities of the governments this could be resolved without such lapse of time that caused unprecedented sufferings to these innocent and simple village folks.

We fail to understand as to why an NGO had to take the major initiative in making the arrangements for their return, what was essentially the responsibility of the relevant agency of the government i.e. our diplomatic mission in India?

There is often news of people driven by disasters gone missing in each other's territorial waters. The first information of their being alive at all filters through to a government in a belated manner and the bilateral procedure for rescue and return would take yet more time.

Against this backdrop, we strongly suggest that countries of the region should adopt a protocol for safe and expeditious return of their citizens straying into other's territory, accidentally or driven by a natural disaster.