Bangladesh to bring back its stranded citizens: Foreign minister

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on Thursday said the government will bring back Bangladeshis who got stuck in various countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“On the basis of need, we’ll bring them back home. We're bringing them back from where we are getting scope,” he told reporters at the ministry of foreign affairs after an inter-ministerial meeting.

Momen mentioned that it remains difficult to bring back Bangladeshis from India due to the on-going lockdown there lasting until 14 April.

Earlier on Tuesday, state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam said the government will bring back Bangladeshi citizens from India who got stuck there once the current countrywide lockdown in India ends.

"The Indian government has requested us to wait a bit for the withdrawal of local lockdown," he said adding that they have already talked to Biman Bangladesh Airlines for special flight operations.

Alam said the government has already brought back Bangladeshis from Kolkata by road with special permission. The returnees have been kept in quarantine.

India is under a 21-day lockdown until 14 April which began on 25 March to slow the spread of coronavirus with a halt on road, rail and air communications.

Around 2,500 Bangladeshi nationals are currently in India who got stuck there and of them, over 1000 are students, according to Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.

There are broadly three categories of Bangladesh nationals currently in India - who are willing to stay back until the situation improves but facing cash crunch, students and those who have been released from hospitals after necessary treatment.

State minister Alam said a number of Bangladeshis want to return from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

He said Bangladesh and Singapore will soon arrange a special flight to exchange a small group of people from both the countries.

Momen said the government will send letters to different countries expressing gratitude for their support to Bangladesh missions abroad and expatriate Bangladeshis.

The letters will be jointly signed by the Bangladesh foreign minister and the expatriates welfare minister.

Momen said they decided to take some specific measures for minimising the sufferings of expatriate Bangladeshis in countries badly hit by coronavirus.