Editorial
UAE barring entry of Bangladeshis en masse
How could Bangladeshi mission be caught unawares?
In what may be termed as nothing short of a dramatic step, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stopped the issue of all forms of entry permits for Bangladeshi passport holders due to security concerns over identification and fake documents. What came as a greater shock is that our officials in the Bangladesh mission in Abu Dhabi have expressed ignorance over the issue. The move by UAE authorities is not altogether surprising given the fact that earlier in August the country imposed entry restrictions for our citizens as evidence mounted on the steadily increasing usage of forged travel documents, expired passports and issue of overstay beyond visa timeline.
These concerns have been raised by UAE but we failed to address them properly. Now we are faced with the prospect of one hopes not, of losing one of our most important labour destinations which employs about a million expatriate Bangladeshi workers. The move in August should have been a wakeup call for the government especially since manpower export to UAE recorded a sharp decline of nearly 43 per cent in August over that of July with some 15,771 people finding employment there. The news got even worse in September when a mere 2,000 Bangladeshi workers found work in UAE. Even if this bar is a temporary one, redoubled efforts must be made to contain the irregularities.
From what has been published in the Gulf News, the crux of the problem revolves around fake passports and visas. With the government-to-government labour market deal yet to be finalised between Bangladesh and Malaysia; and UAE authorities not stating precisely when the ban will be lifted, there are bound to be serious concerns here. The misgivings raised by UAE are not unique. They are almost identical to the ones raised by Malaysia and unless we are willing to treat these anomalies on top priority basis, we are looking at the prospect of undercutting our $1,300crore annual remittance basket.
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