Editorial
Aspirant workers deported from Libya
Address the problem at its root
Hundreds of Bangladeshi workers seeking entry into Libya are either being detained on arrival at the airport or sent back. In-between a trickle is being left off the hook. The reason for such actions on the part of the Libyan authorities is alleged traveling by workers with fake visa. Obviously, so many aspirant workers would not have undertaken the journey on the basis of fraudulent papers either, knowingly or unknowingly. Imagine, their plight and hardship in confinement and then to be unceremoniously herded on to the plane back home!
We have it on the authority of the officials and even top hat of the expatriate workers welfare ministry that for no fault at our end intending workers are having to face such an ordeal. Surely the matter should not be taken at its face value. It would have to be investigated in both Bangladesh and Libya to get to the bottom of the scandal.
The visas have been issued by the Libyan Embassy in Dhaka. Hence, it is for them to explain why the documents are not acceptable at the Libyan airports. Currently, there is no ambassador at the post but that shouldn't have precluded obtaining a satisfactory explanation from the embassy about the issuance of so many visas bouncing back.
We suspect wrongdoing or lapses at three levels: First, some racket may be working to procure fake visas for overly eager workers; second, the embassy may have become vulnerable to approaches by unwanted persons; and third, visas are being issued at random and in excess of the actual and verifiable demand for employment in Libya.
Whichever may be the case, the expatriate ministry and our embassy in Libya must energetically take up the issue with the authorities in Tripoli. Who is going to pay the money being lost through the process? Merely enquiring with the immigration at the Libyan airports could not solve the problem; the bull will have to be taken by its horns in its arena. Why Libya, one of the favourite destinations for our workers, should suddenly be so unwelcoming and be resorting to sweeping deportation on alleged fake visas on such a scale?
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