Return from Libya
<i>Horrors still haunt him</i>
Even twenty days after returning home, Humayun is still being chased by the horrific experiences he underwent in troubled Libya.
Narrating the days in Libya, he said, "We, around 300 Bangladeshi workers, got trapped inside the company camp for eight days with no access to food or water."
The Libyans used to come in the camp almost everyday and looted valuables and money, he said.
"If anyone tried to delay to handover the valuables to them, the Libyans pointed the weapons at our heads and chests," he said, adding, "During that moment, I closed my eyes giving out the hope of life and prayed to God. Only fate has saved me."
"One of my colleagues was injured by stabbing while another was shot at in font of me for making delay for two minutes to handover the keys of their baggages to the Libyans," he said.
28-year-old Humayun from Joydevpur of Gazipur went to Zawiyah in Libya spending Tk 2.5 lakh through 'Man is Power' travel agency about 16 months ago.
He worked as an electrician in a Korean construction company in Az Zawiyah, a city located in north-western part of Libya.
In the first two days, they came for three times daily. During the rest six days, they used to visit once a day because all the valuables and money had already been gone to the Libyans' hand, he described.
"No one could sleep for a while, because everyone was chased away by the fear of attacks of Libyans," he said.
As per the instruction of company authorities, all the Bangladeshi workers remained alert and kept vigilance round the clock, he said.
"We were served food once a day for the five to six days. But we had to starve the rest days," Humayun with tears told this correspondent.
He alleged that despite repeated requests, the Bangladesh embassy in Libya did not help them. "We have nothing to do for you," Humayun said quoting an official of the embassy.
"At the ninth consecutive days, the company manager arranged a truck and filled it keeping us stiff in array one laying over another like goods or cattle," he said.
During the 4-hours-long journey to Libyan border, they could not move their body. Some started vomiting and urinating on the truck, he said.
After reaching the Libyan border, all the Bangladeshis became exhausted due to hungry, sleeplessness and painful journey.
"We stayed two days in Libyan border under the open sky having little food that were thrown from other side of the boarder. I did not know who threw the foods," he said.
At the 3rd day, we walked for 15 km to enter into the Tunisia border and stayed for another two days there under the open sky. On March 8, he got his passport back. One day after, he got on the plane on the border and landed in Dhaka in the evening of March 10.
"I could not think that I could come back home," he said.
Like thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers, Humayun is also a victim of swindling by the manpower-recruiting agency in terms of salary structure.
"They (recruiting agency officials) promised me to arrange a job of at least Tk 25, 000 monthly. But I was paid only 10,000 to 12,000 including my overtime allowances. If I asked for increasing my salary, they did not pay any heed," he said.
Now Humayun is going through a tremendous frustration thinking of financially tougher moments in the coming days, as he could not save coins during his expatriate life.
Humayun hopes for financial assistance from the government for their rehabilitation and employment.
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