Staff Reporter :
The largest ever 173 Bangladeshi citizens are on way to return home from the neighboring Myanmar on Tuesday.
They have been released from Sittwe prison in Rakhine State of Myanmar and are coming in Bangladesh by the “Myanmar Naval Ship Chin Dwin”.
The Myanmar naval ship is to visit Bangladesh to bring back Myanmar’s defence force members who were forced to cross the border into Bangladesh due to conflict in the country.
The ship is expected to reach the Bangladesh territory by Wednesday and handover of the Bangladeshi citizens to the relevant authorities will take place at that time, the Bangladesh embassy in Myanmar said.
Out of the 173 persons, 129 are from Cox’s Bazar district, 30 are from Bandarban district, seven are from Rangamati, one each from Khagrachari, Chattogram, Noakhali, Narayanganj, Rajbari, Narshingdi and Nilphamari districts.
The Bangladesh Embassy took the measures on information of the visit of the Myanmar ship to Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh embassy took up the issue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs of Bangladesh and relevant Myanmar authorities to seize the opportunity to send back the maximum number of verified Bangladeshi Nationals who were in different prisons in Myanmar.
The embassy also pursued the relevant host authorities to bring the 144 verified and jail term completed or pardoned returnees in Sittwe prison for smooth return and pursued for releasing the 29 verified Bangladeshi nationals who were still serving their jail terms or under trial.
Pursuant to the mission’s efforts the 29 persons were pardoned and sent back to Bangladesh, the embassy said.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon and Bangladesh Consulate in Sittwe were working steadfastly for this return since the last return of Bangladeshi citizens that took place on October 3, 2023 when 29 Bangladeshis returned home through a flag meeting.
Representatives of the Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon and the Bangladesh Consulate, Sittwe were present to coordinate with the local authorities, conduct the verification process and issue Travel Permits in favour of the returnees.