Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has urged all Bangladesh missions abroad and expatriate Bangladeshis to take proper steps to avoid the repetition of any incident like what happened in Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait on Thursday.
Three people, including counsellor (political) and head of chancery Md Anisuzzaman were injured when a group of Bangladeshi workers of a Kuwaiti company – Lesco – attacked them.
“Local police brought the situation under control and picked some workers up. The situation now remains fully peaceful,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Friday night.
The government and the Embassy in Kuwait have taken steps to have the arrested Bangladeshi workers released, said the MoFA.
Lesco has assured the workers of paying their arrears by February 5 and resolving the issues related to renewal of work permit.
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti authorities are investigating Thursday’s vandalism and physical assaults on staff inside Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait by a group of agitated Bangladeshi workers, said an official on Friday.
He said the probe is being carried out through analysing CCTV footage.
The Bangladesh Embassy, however, requested the Kuwaiti authorities not to harass any innocent worker during the investigation process.
“We’ll make sure that no innocent worker is harassed. We’ve already talked to officials concerned in Kuwait. They’ve assured us in this regard,” Bangladesh Ambassador to Kuwait SM Abul Kalam told UNB describing what happened on the day.
On Thursday, a group of Bangladeshi workers ransacked the Embassy property, including computers and TV, despite assurance from the Ambassador to address their issues through discussions.
Some 300-400 Bangladeshi workers, employees of the Kuwaiti company, took position in front of the Embassy expressing their grievances against the company over arrears of three months – October-December 2018 – and iqamas (work permits) issues in the morning.
“I had a meeting with a small group of them inside the Embassy and identified their three problems, including arrears and iqama renewal,” said the Ambassador conveying the workers’ representatives to fulfill their demand through consultation with the company officials.
Later, the Ambassador had another meeting with the manager (operation) of the Company on the same day at his office asking him to address the issues raised by Bangladeshi workers.
Ambassador Kalam said the Company representative assured him of disbursing the arrears by February 5 and he also obtained a written statement from him for resolving the workers’ issues.
When the Company representative was going out from the Embassy, some of the workers stopped him and got engaged in scuffling.
Counsellor (Political) and head of chancery Md Anisuzzaman and two other staff came under attacks who were trying to help the Company representative get into his car, Embassy officials said.
At one stage, some of the workers entered the Embassy and ransacked its furniture indiscriminately despite Ambassador’s assurances and requests to return to work.
On request, members of law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and picked up around 150 workers for questioning, said the Embassy sources.The Embassy has also conveyed the overall situation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, said an official.
Meanwhile ,The foreign ministry in a statement on Friday night said the situation there remained “peaceful now”.
Local police brought the situation under control and picked up some workers. The embassy is trying to get those arrested Bangladeshi workers released, the foreign ministry said.
The company has assured the workers of paying their arrears by Feb 5 and resolving the issues related to renewal of work permit.
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