Editorial
Tragic deaths at sea recalled
Information given by survivors should be acted on
LAST week, this paper carried a shocking report based on the survivors' account of the harrowing experience of more than 500 Bangladeshis who were on their way to Malaysia, or so they thought, in search of jobs.
The story is well known but the excruciating details of the ordeal as revealed by the 116 survivors should intensify the authorities' determination to track down the culprits named, legally proceed against them and mete out deterrent punishment to them. Unless there are appropriate follow-up actions based on the new information of suffering undergone by the victims and their families will go in vain and there would be recurrence of such tragic events.
Let's not forget that this set of racketeers do not have the formal label of manpower agents. With the authorised agents or even the fake ones there is the paperwork and documentation, at least the semblance of it. But these frauds lure into their trap those who are too poor to afford air-fare. These rackets will have to be dealt with primarily at the community level.
The deaths and fortuitous rescue were the culmination of a series of events, starting with the payment to the frauds, through the transfer from their villages to the coast of their departure. It is inconceivable that such an operation could be carried out without the local people, the police and the coast guards getting wind of it. If sufficiently motivated, they could have prevented the victims leaving the country.
That is where the questions of awareness building at the local levels, surveillance and taking suitable preventive measures crop up.
Over the years, many such incidents have been reported and yet nothing has been done to put a halt to them. How many lives must be lost before we wake up? It is true that only the government and the police cannot stop such practices. The best antidote to the crime is community involvement. People who have returned home, like Emdad, can provide the strongest arguments against such misadventures. The government could ask them to narrate their experiences to the people in their villages.
Genuine manpower agents must also start a campaign against such racketeering because it hurts not only the country but also their reputation.
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