It is indeed quite unfortunate that one of our workers in Bahrain committed such a heinous crime as murdering his employer. And for him now around one lakh Bangladeshi workers' fate is in jeopardy as Bahrain has decided not to renew their work permits. But the question is one should not judge an entire country through the misdeed of one person. There is also an element of discrimination here displayed by the Bahraini lawmakers. Had he been a worker from the USA or Europe they may have refrained from such stern actions. So, we hope that our diplomats will manage to handle the situation appropriately and soon come to a pragmatic solution. In addi-tion, our workers are also the victims of shady manpower agencies. For example, 27 Bangladeshis had to return from Iraq. They were promised by the unscrupulous agents that they would be taken to Dubai but they ended up in Iraq! Thanks to 1OM that they have helped to repatriate 118 of our work- ers from Solaimania. Then there is the case of 45 workers returning from Malaysia with fake passports as their original passports were confiscated by their employers besides being not paid their due wages. Similar is the plight of workers in Saudi Arabia.

So, such harassment of our workers abroad is very disturbing. The government must find out the fal e recruiting agencies (as they have alread / started doing so to some extent) and make sure that such agencies are scrapped. In addition, our embassies in those countries should be more conciliatory and helpful instead of ignoring or neglecting the workers' plight. We must remember that it is the remittances of these workers that are contributing a hefty amount to our foreign exchange earnings. It is our utmost duty to ensure that they lead a hassle-free life abroad.

WasifWahed

Old DOHS. Dhaka