Bangladeshis in Bahrain awake this morning feeling a lot more welcome in the country. Two weeks ago 100,000 Bangladeshi workers were threatened with expulsion after the murder of a Bahraini by a Bangladeshi mechanic. The Ministry of Interior now says those Bangladeshi already in the country can stay – and carry on building the country’s infrastructure – but no new arrivals will be allowed in. It’s not exactly lining the streets with Bangladeshi flags, but it’s a start.
Bahrain’s ridiculous reaction is echoed in Kuwait. Kuwaiti MPs had called for expulsion of Bangladeshis blaming them for the increasing crime rate in the state. General Moeen U Ahmed, Chief of Staff of the Bangladesh Army, on a recent trip to the country, had to remind his hosts of Bangladesh’s response to the 1990 invasion by Iraq: it sent two infantry divisions and left a mine-clearing team to help with the rebuilding.
If Bahrainis can’t remember that far back, or think Kuwait is too far away, they need only glance at the country’s towers, roads and houses for evidence of Bangladesh’s usefulness.
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