Editorial
Andamans tragedy
Lessons unlearnt, one too many
A large body of gullible Bangladeshis, around 400, fell easy prey to machinations of fraudulent job brokers setting sail to the sea apparently on way to the Malaysian coast, some two months ago. Most of them are from Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. This is how their tale of tragedy unfolded: After the ill-fated Bangladeshis floated in the sea on six speed boats for some days, their fake employment agent put them on board a ship and abandoned them in the high seas. As they floated listlessly and ran out of water and food, seven of them died while 102 were rescued -- thanks to the Indian coast guard. As many as 300 have gone missing and many of them feared to have drowned.
This is only a repeat of the sordid stories we have heard about young unemployed Bangladeshis gambling their lives on dreadful uncertainty just to get a job foothold overseas. In the process, they allow themselves to be enticed by the carrot dangled before them by cheats and thugs who in no time would disappear from the scene once their ulterior motive has been realised. As they become hapless victims of human trafficking, they often have to court death, arrest, deportation, and pauporisation if they are lucky to be alive. They have been stranded and hauled up while trekking from Morocco to Spain, caught up with in the Mediterranean sea and as fugitives in the Malaysian jungle trying to escape arrest.
Call it tomfoolery or misadventure, the curse of joblessness drove them to desperation, so there is a human face to it. Of course, their gullibility is blame-worthy, something they should be able overcome through sensitisation and awareness programmes at local community levels. Nevertheless, it is the state's responsibility to see that the unemployment rate is effectively reduced. The government needs to facilitate generation of employment in the private sector. It is time, the countries to which South Asians like to go for employment are approached through IMO, and also through inter-regional mechanisms, for attaining a favourable collective response to the issue of job-related migrations.
For the present though, the ministry of expatriate welfare and overseas employment should follow the developments pertaining to those missing in the seas near the Andamans and secure the safe passage back to the country of those already rescued by the good work of the Indian coast guard.
We express our condolences to the members of the families who have lost their near and dear ones.
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