Abdur Rashid, a resident of Jalasi area in Panchagarh town told The Daily Star on January 8 that his son Mostafa, 22, along with Rashed Ali, 20, Asgar Ali, 20, Delwar Hossain, 25, Lutfor Rahman, 35, Shahabuddin, 18, Nur Alam, 18, Delwar Hossain, 30, Humayun, 17, Shajahan Ali, 28, Nur Nabi, 28, Rabbani, 30, Majid Mia, Helaluddin and Rezaul, all from Panchagarh town, had gone to Dhaka a year ago in search of work. Since then he had not received any news of his son or the others until three months ago when he received a letter from his son letting him know that all the fifteen men including his son are imprisoned in Amritsar.

He also came to know that some manpower traffickers lured the young men to leave the country with promises of lucrative jobs in Pakistan. The men set out for Pakistan via India and were sent to jail after being captured by the Indian police for illegal entry into India.

Other imprisoned youths also wrote letters to their families in Panchagarh from Amritsar jail requesting them to take steps for their release. They described their present situation in the jail as inhumane, where inmates of different languages and cultures are languishing.

After receiving the letters, families of the youths contacted the speaker of the parliament of Bangladesh also the elected lawmaker from Panchagarh-1 constituency, Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar, urging him to make arrangements for bringing them back.

The families also contacted the first secretary of the Indian high commission in Bangladesh, Neeraj Sinha, who had recently visited Panchagarh for official business. They apprised him of the present condition of the youths. In reply to their request to return the detained youths to Bangladesh, the Indian high commission first secretary told them that the Indian government would take initiative for the return if applications were submitted through proper channel with necessary papers.

But the families alleged that the government of Bangladesh has not yet taken any step in this regard.