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| 60 B'desh prisoners repatriated from Jammu jails | | Get training in Kashmiri embroidery | | Sumit Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 11: 60 Bangladeshi Prisoners have been dispatched from different Jammu jails to West Bengal for their repatriation. They were boarded in Sialdha Express on Monday evening from Jammu and would reach in Kolkata on Wednesday evening where they will be handed over to BSF troops and with the help of Bangladesh High Commission Access they will proceed for their further journey to their respective home towns in Bangladesh.
ADG Prisoners Navin Aggarwal when contacted confirmed the reports and said that the prisoners were repatriated after legal formalities, he said adding that out of 60 prisoners 42 were released from Central jail,Kotbhalwal,17 from district jail Ambphalla and one from Baramula jail.
Pertinently, there are 80 Bangladeshi prisoners languishing in different jail in Jammu and rest of the 20 prisoners who still left in jails are those who are under trial. They crossed over to India illegally to find a livelihood, but landed in jail here. Many Bangladeshi infiltrators were provided training in Kashmiri embroidery at the Kot Bhalwal jail.
Their repatriation made effective after Home ministry of both sides of India and Bangladesh agreed to take immediate measures for repatriation of released prisoners and victims of trafficking in the 4th Home Ministers level talks between Bangladesh and India commenced at Dhaka on 28 January 2013. The Bangladesh delegation was led by Dr. Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of Bangladesh and Sushilkumar Shinde, Union Home Minister led the Indian delegation at this two day talk. The process repartiration was in pipeline during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in 2010.
Poverty is the main factor that drives them to infiltrate into India to either stay put or further cross over to Pakistan in search of work. But many get caught by police or the Border Security Force (BSF). One such convict, Shamshul Alam, a resident of Chittagong in Bangladesh, told that he belonged to a very poor family, 'so I thought of crossing over to India to work as a labourer but police caught our group of 10'. Alam, aged 25, says he along with nine others worked for a few days as labourers in Arnia village near here before police arrested them. 'There are agents in Bangladesh who bring groups of people into India with the promise of getting us small jobs,' he told 'Bangladesh is a poor country and, on top of that, floods and cyclones spell havoc. This forces many like us to flee illegally,' says Jashimian of Dhaka who along with a group of 25 was arrested by the BSF while trying to cross over to Pakistan from the border near Jammu with the help of an agent. They were later convicted of illegal border crossing. He says he has a big family, including parents, six brothers and two sisters, to support. While they were in jail they were getting training in Kashmiri aari embroidery on crewal fabric. 'I learnt it in just two weeks, and thereafter I have embroidered a number of curtains, bedcovers, tablecloths and ladies' suits,' Alam says proudly.
All of them realise that they have learnt a great art which can make earning a living easier.
Expressing gratitude to the jail authorities, another Bangladeshi, Mohammad Johail, says, 'Our jail sentence has become a boon, as now we know Kashmiri embroidery which can help us earn our bread back home in Bangladesh. It is like taking a great gift of Kashmir to our country.'
When asked what prompted the jail authorities to teach Bangladeshi inmates Kashmiri embroidery, Superintendent of Jammu district jail Rajni Sehgal said, 'Our effort is that when these inmates are released they do not feel lost in the world. This is to make them learn an art that can help in earning and surviving and make them skilled workers.' Majority of Bangladeshi convicts in this jail were in the age group of 20 to 30 years and had completed their sentence and their counselling was also over. 'We were checking their antecedents and they were under preventive detention till repatriation,' she said. |
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