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Bangladeshis in Iraq

Embassy shifts 50 to safety

Belal Hossain Biplob
At least 50 Bangladeshi migrants, who were rescued from restive Mosul in Iraq six days ago, will be sent back home soon.
"We have transferred 50 Bangladeshis to Kurdistan from Mosul with the assistance of the Kurdish state forces. We are now planning to send them back home," Maj Gen Rezanur Rahman Khan, Bangladesh ambassador to Iraq, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Civilians, including foreigners, have been passing their days in great anxiety with Iraqi government forces engaged in heavy clashes with Sunni insurgents who made major and swift advances in some provinces last week. Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, fell to the insurgents.
The prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region told BBC that it would be very hard for Iraq to return to the situation that existed before the Sunni militants took control of the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit in a rapid advance last week, and Tai Afar on Monday. The insurgent group is spearheaded by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
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Over 14,000 Bangladeshis are working in Iraq, mostly in the construction sector, according to the Bangladesh foreign ministry. Most of the expatriates are based in Baghdad, Basra, Karbala and Najaf.
They are trying to cany on with their jobs at grave risk to their lives as they have spent hefty sums to find employment abroad.
"1 had to spend I k 3 lakh to migrate to Iraq three months ago. Now 1 am feeling insecure at my workplace," Bangladeshi migrant Hasan Ahmed
told this newspaper over the phone from Mosul on Monday.
If the situation worsens, 1 lasan's employer will leave Iraq and he will be left without a job.
"I have been going through a crisis in my life. If I want to be safe, 1 should return home now. But 1 cannot earn enough money to ensure a comfortable life in Bangladesh," he mentioned.
Like 1 lasan, many other Bangladeshis are now facing uncertainty7 over their jobs in Iraq since the rebels launched attacks at different parts of the Middle Eastern country7.
Ihe Bangladesh envoy, however, claimed that all the Bangladeshis were yet safe. 'I he embassy gets around 80 to 90 phone calls per day from different parts of Iraq, he added.
"We're keeping in touch with our people with the assistance of Bangladeshis across the country7. We have asked everybody to stay safe and not to go outside," said the ambassador.
Around 4,000 Bangladeshis are employed in a South Korean company7 in Baghdad, he mentioned, adding that the firm had taken all safety preparations, including closing its production
and moving employees to safer places.
I lowever, a Bangladeshi employee of the company7 informed this correspondent through an e-mail that many foreign workers, including Bangladeshis, had already resigned.
In the light of such a move, the company7 management decided that it would not allow anyone to go on leave, he added.
It may be noted that on Saturday the Bangladesh authorities clamped a suspension on the export of manpower to Iraq until a return of normalcy7 there.