A news report in this paper has caught our attention. An open letter signed by 38 Bangladeshi children stuck in a safe-home in West Bengal asking the prime minister for safe conduct home is both touching and alarming at the same time. We understand that the bulk of these children have been stuck in state facilities over the last 18 months for travelling to neighbouring India without valid documents. While the Indian border patrol that apprehended them was merely doing its duty, where have our authorities been in getting them back to their families in Bangladesh? The only reason we got to know about the incident is because an Indian voluntary organisation helped make the letter of appeal public and got in touch with a Bangladeshi voluntary organisation.

We understand that many other minors make the dangerous trip across the border to avail, what they think, for better employment opportunities. Human trafficking gangs charge enormous amounts and lure unsuspecting poor people to cross the border and at the first sign of trouble ditch them and these illegal migrants end up in safe homes. This is a major problem that has to be addressed by both governments. For our part, we must take proactive measures through our mission abroad to actively keep track of such stranded Bangladeshi nationals and expedite their repatriation back home. That such bulk trafficking can take place when there is a huge barbed wire fence along most part of the Bangladesh-India border is indeed baffling.