The joy of Eid is in the air and markets are bustling with business. But there is little happiness at the homes of 18 fishermen who made their living in the Bay of Bengal.
On Mar 15, the group and their boats were detained by the Myanmar Border Guard Police from the Naikhangdia area on the Teknaf-St Martin route. Instead of engaging in Eid festivities, their families are now struggling to get two square meals a day.
There was no Eid cheer on the faces of the people in the Jaliapara area of Shah Parir Dip near the Naf Rriver’s Beribandh. They were waiting – waiting for the return of their sons, their husbands and their fathers. In some cases, the detainees were the sole earning members of their families.
Abdul Gani, president of the Jaliapara Small Fishermen’s Cooperative Association, called on the government to take action.
“We are requesting the government do all it can to bring the fishermen back to us,” he said.
Border Guard Bangladesh have contacted their Myanmar counterparts regarding the fishermen, said BGB Captain Lieutenant Colonel Sheikh Khaled Mohammad Iftekhar. But they have yet to return.