The Daily Star
Even on Eid day, Suruj Mia had no time to rest for long.
After prayers on Friday in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, he spoke to his family in Mymensingh’s Bhaluka in the morning, exchanged greetings and then left for work when the company vehicle arrived.
His family calls him more often now. Their worry is no longer only about his work or income. It is about the war.
Amid the ongoing US-Israel attack on Iran and the widening conflict across the Middle East, Bangladeshi migrant workers and aspiring migrants say they are living through fear, uncertainty and financial strain, with some unable to travel on time, some reaching their destinations only after repeated flight cancellations, and others already in the region trying to keep their jobs under the spectre of a war that threatens to engulf them.
Suruj was supposed to leave for Saudi Arabia on February 28 on a Biman flight at 2:30pm. But after around two hours in the air, the plane turned back as flights were cancelled amid fears over the war, he said.
He tried again two days later and even boarded another flight. But he could not make it then either. He finally left Bangladesh on March 4 via Delhi and reached Jeddah.
He now lives in Dammam.
Speaking over WhatsApp with this newspaper, Suruj said life there is continuing, but the fear remains.
He said his family keeps asking about his safety because Dammam is close enough to the conflict zone to fear stray missiles strikes.
“There is no problem with work now, but there is always tension over when an accident might happen,” he said, adding that his family tells him repeatedly to remain careful.
For Enamul Haque of Feni’s Daganbhuiyan, the uncertainty began before he could even return to work.
He came to Bangladesh on three months’ leave and was supposed to fly to Sharjah on a US-Bangla Airlines flight on February 28. That flight never took off. Since then, he said, it has been one date after another, with no certainty over when he could leave as the war dragged on.
He has now been told that his ticket is confirmed for March 25 for Dubai.
Enamul said the delay has deepened financial hardship at home, while fear has also grown inside the family because they have been hearing through different media reports about bombings in Dubai and damage in areas close to where he is supposed to be.
Another migrant, Lipi Akter, 30, of Kapasia in Gazipur, was supposed to fly to Dubai on a housemaid visa on March 1 on a US-Bangla flight. After that flight was cancelled, she tried repeatedly but could not get another seat because of the war situation. She is now expected to fly on March 26.
Lipi said she had worked in a household abroad for two years before returning home on leave eight months ago, and had been trying to go back. But the delay has hit her family hard.
She said her employer had asked her to come, though without much enthusiasm, telling her there was war and bombing.
Her monthly salary there was Tk 38,000. Had she been able to leave on time, she said, she could have asked for money within 10 to 15 days and helped her children enjoy Eid a little better.
Instead, she said, she could not buy good clothes for her three children this Eid. She settled for farm chicken. “I could not afford beef,” she said.
Still, Lipi said she must go, whatever the circumstances, because she has to earn.
For some, reaching Saudi Arabia has not brought immediate relief either.
Mohon Bhuiyan, 50, from Debidwar in Cumilla, has recently travelled to Abha in Saudi Arabia. According to his niece Murshida Akter, he called at dawn on Eid day to exchange greetings with relatives back home.
She said he had originally been scheduled to travel on March 1, but after visa complications and cancellations, he was able to leave on March 10 after much difficulty.
Now in Saudi Arabia on a free visa, Mohon still has no work, she said. He offered Eid prayers in the morning and then resumed his daily search for a job. He has been told that he may get work after Eid, but for now, it remains only a promise.
Because he has not found work yet, he has not been able to send money home, and is struggling to manage his own expenses there, Murshida added.
Golam Noor, 45, from Brahmanbaria, also faced a frantic last-minute journey.
His visa had only three days left when his scheduled flight was cancelled. After failing to secure another seat immediately, he bought a new ticket for Tk 63,000 on March 3 and eventually reached Jeddah.
He said he had offered Eid prayers there before heading to work, where he usually spends four to five hours at a stretch.
Noor said conditions around Jeddah are still manageable, and work is continuing. But he remains worried about what may come next.
If living cost rises, he said, he will be able to send less money home. If work falls or overtime disappears, his income will shrink further.
His family has also been calling repeatedly, asking about the war and urging him to be careful, especially because he works in the open on the roads.
According to the airport’s flight management department, 614 out of 714 scheduled flights were cancelled in the 19 days between February 28 and March 18.
So far, five Bangladeshis have been killed in the US-Israel war on Iran. The conflict’s impact began on February 28, when Ahmed Ali, also known as Saleh Ahmed, died in the UAE. SM Tareq was killed in Bahrain on March 2. On March 8, Bacchu Miah of Kishoreganj and Mosharraf Hossain of Tangail were killed in the same missile strike in Saudi Arabia’s Al Kharj area, where Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun was critically injured and later died in Riyadh on March 18 while undergoing treatment.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/subdued-eid-bangladeshis-middle-east-amid-fears-4133221
