The mission officials mainly remain busy attending VIP parties given by the businessmen and receiving and seeing off the VIP persons of the country, he said at a press briefing in the city yesterday.

The Bangladesh High Commission in India does nothing to protect the rights of Bangladeshi migrants who are facing legal difficulties despite court order to free them, said Justice Naimuddin, vice-chairman of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST).

The BLAST organised the press briefing on the three-day international conference on 'Cross-border migration and protection of human rights among the neighbours in South Asia' that ended yesterday.

The BLAST, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) jointly organised the conference in Dhaka.

Justice DK Basu, chairman of Legal Aid Services of West Bengal, Sharmin Osmani, vice-president of Pakistan Women Lawyers' Association, justice Malay Sengupta, former chief justice of Sikkim High Court, India, and Geeta Pathak, coordinator of Legal Aid Programme, Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal, attended the press briefing.

Justice Naimuddin said the exact figure of Bangladeshi migrants languishing in foreign prisons must be more than 4,000 while a total of 850 foreign migrants are in Bangladeshi jails. Of them, 300 prisoners were freed after the BLAST provided legal aid to them, he added.

Besides, many Bangladeshi girls are leading a miserable life in Indian jails and brothels, which is yet to be addressed by the government, he said.

Justice DK Basu said, "We have attended the conference to work together as a pressure group for our respective government so that the governments take steps to protect the human rights of the migrant workers."

The three-day conference has placed 10 recommendations for the South Asian countries, he said.

Among others, BLAST Executive Director Shamsul Bari and Advocate Pradip Roy of Kolkata High Court were also present.