Maldivians in Bangladesh in good health; assistance rendered to two students to return

Maldivian Foreign Ministry, on Sunday, said locals presently residing in Bangladesh are in good health, adding they have rendered assistance to two students to return to the Maldives.

Bangladeshi students launched a serial protest over public sector job quotas which has seen scores killed and hundreds injured in violent clashes between the protestors and authorities. To curb the protests, the Bangladeshi government has shut down schools, colleges and universities and imposed a curfew.

Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Sunday, two local students studying at medical schools in northern Bangladesh expressed their wish to return to the Maldives upon the closure of the schools following which assistance was rendered to the two students by the Maldivian high commissions in Bangladesh and India to cross the border.

The Ministry affirmed that the Maldivian High Commission in Bangladesh was closely monitoring the condition of locals residing in Bangladesh amid the protests. In this regard, the Ministry, citing the High Commission, said 90 locals registered to be residing in Bangladesh at present, are in good health.

Foreign Ministry also reiterated their earlier instructions to Maldivians residing in Bangladesh to refrain from going outdoors during this time as advised by the Bangladeshi government and to strictly adhere to the instructions given by the Maldivian High Commission in Bangladesh.

They also instructed any locals who require assistance to contact the High Commission.

In this regard, the Maldivian High Commission in Bangladesh can be contacted via phone at +880 1329 748 885 or  +880 1708 120 318 and via email at [email protected].

The protests in Bangladesh were launched over public sector job quotas, which include a 30 percent reservation for family members of fighters from the 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan.

The quotas have caused anger among students who face high youth unemployment rates, with nearly 32 million young Bangladeshis not in work or education out of a total population of 170 million people.

115 people have been killed in the unrest.