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When I was going to Velika Kladusa in Bosnia with my colleague Arafatul Islam on behalf of Deutsche Welle Bengal, a question arose in my mind: why?
That is why most of the time was spent searching for the answer. Most of the Bangladeshi immigrants who have spoken with Bosnia are from Sylhet. As a result, people in the area known as London in Bangladesh live in buildings or camps abandoned by the jungle trying to enter Europe in this way, wondering why the place has grown stronger.
Although I have not been able to get a 100% sure answer, I have been able to form a general picture. The reasons are as follows: 1. Social status and improved life 2. 4 misconceptions about road harassment. Political reasons.
Rahim, an immigrant, has worked in Oman, a Middle Eastern country, for five years. Many of his friends and family live in different countries in Europe. He was the one who lamented that the social status that his friends from Europe get when he occasionally goes home on vacation, he does not get when he leaves Oman. His family members also suffer greatly from this. What a surprise, right? However, even though Rahim worked legally in Oman, most of his friends are still illegal in Europe!
However, Rahim’s idea was that if he could come to Europe, his status would increase and he could increase his social status and that of his family by sending a lot of money to the country. But it has been almost two years since he came to Bosnia from Oman via Iran-Turkey-Greece-Albania-North Macedonia-Serbia. His dream has not yet come true.
Many Bangladeshis may not be able to enter Europe despite repeated attempts. It is cooked in the jungles on the border with Europe.
He has also been tortured by the Croatian police more than once in the middle of a “game” (illegal immigrants have dubbed it the “game”).
Shafiq Mia has been in the field for four months. His right hand is almost useless. After going to the ‘game’, the Slovenian police dog bit him and received 14 points on the hand. If you are still healthy, you want to go back to the game!
We had the good (or bad) luck to see the preparation of such a game. A runner named Bushi will take hundreds of refugees to the border by bus. That same corridor is illegally in Bosnia. However, he is no longer trying to cross the border, but is making a large sum of money by arranging for others to cross. We have received a complaint that the police in that area also receive a part of that money. As a result, the whole thing has become an open secret.
An immigrant named Saifur Rahman was standing in the distance at that bushire game. As he approached, he began to speak of all his pains. He was also in Oman, he came to Bosnia by the same route. He did not forget his demand to be tortured and tortured in this way. He said it was much better in Oman than that. Meanwhile, he has spent 15 lakh rupees. But if someone gives you 10 lakh rupees, you want to go back to the country with the remaining five rupees.
While we were working in Bosnia, many immigrants from different countries approached me to express their pain. There are illegal Bangladeshis in several European countries, including Serbia, Greece, South Africa, Libya, and even Morocco.
A Bangladeshi man was injured by Croatian police while trying to cross the European border illegally.
Hundreds of Bangladeshis spend the night in polyethylene tents in the jungles of a city called Nador in Morocco. They want to go to Spain.
Couldn’t you do anything in the country with so much money? Bangladesh is now a middle-income country, internationally called the “Rising Economic Tiger.” But thousands of citizens of that country are trying to cross the border of Europe risking their lives just like the countries devastated by war!
A migrant in the jungles of Morocco said that the Spanish police would send them back to Morocco if caught, Morocco would send them back to Algeria, and the Algerian police would send them back to Niger. It costs them thousands of rupees to return to Morocco from Niger, and they have to work inhumanely on foot for a few days. If they catch him, there is torture.
He said he now had little money left from the country through brokers. If he is caught in the next ‘game’, he will have to go to Niger and will have no money to return. I asked him, “What will you do then?” The answer is: “Only God knows.”
Away from the country, he cooks in the jungles of the European border with an uncertain future in mind.
Think about it. The people of Bangladesh have spent months and nights traveling to Europe after being beaten by the police in the jungles of Africa. Think?
I told one of the Bangladeshis who spent the night in an abandoned roofless factory in Bosnia: “You could have given yourself a factory for 15-20 lakh rupees.”
He replied, “I could have, but no money would have gotten into my pocket from that factory.” In his words there have been complaints of bribery, corruption, irregularities, injustice, lack of good government, factionalism, nepotism, etc.
The government of Bangladesh does not seem to care about this. Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Ministry of Welfare for Expatriates are reacting. There may be a reason for this: they have left of their own accord, what do we have to do? And the reason for not saying that may be: how many people were able to go, once they go to Europe, the money will reach the country. However, the government should have had the primary responsibility for breaking the huge cycle of corridors that has developed. It didn’t happen, but a member of the country’s parliament has been in prison in Kuwait for several months on charges of human trafficking! Seleucus really.
Bangladeshis are reported to have taken refuge in an abandoned building in the jungle.
On the other hand, so-called ‘human beings’ have arrived in Europe and are being subjected to horrible torture at the border. Someone’s limbs are broken, sometimes a dog is let loose, struck and injured. There are complaints against the Croatian police on the Bosnian border and against the Hungarian or Spanish police on the other border.
Whether these accusations are true or false, it is certain that the majority of Bangladeshi immigrants suffered from a kind of mistrust in the country. They think that the real valuation of work or merit will not be in the country. If the place of mistrust cannot be removed, society will remain backward even if it is a middle- or high-income country.
Author: Journalist, Deutsche Welle Bangla Department.
Email: [email protected]
Photo courtesy: Anupam Dev Kanunjna
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