JEDDAH/RIYADH, 7 March 2003 — Bangladeshis, who form one of the largest expatriate communities in Saudi Arabia, have reacted positively to a contingency plan put in place to meet any eventuality if war breaks out in the Gulf.

Some major decisions were taken at a recent meeting convened by Bangladeshi Ambassador K. Sharjil Hassan. The meeting, which was also attended by Mohammed Zafor, minister and deputy chief of the Haj mission, decided to form a coordination committee consisting of prominent members of the community in the Kingdom. The committee’s task is to monitor the developments and provide assistance to their nationals if war breaks out.

It was also decided to set up subcommittees across the Kingdom to organize and oversee relief measures in terms of providing temporary accommodation, transport, food, medicine and water to those affected by war.

Contact groups in different regions of the Kingdom are to coordinate with the community and keep them abreast of developments.

“We’re not in a state of panic. We would rather watch the situation as it develops. However, most of our people would like to stay put even if war breaks out,” Kamal Ahmed, 52, a senior Bangladeshi executive in a travel agency, told Arab News yesterday.

“We in Jeddah are absolutely safe even if war breaks out. Our brothers elsewhere in the Gulf, especially in areas bordering Iraq, think they are more vulnerable,” said Hossain Shafiq, 30, a member of the Expatriates Union Jeddah.

In a telephone interview with Arab News, Ambassador Hassan said there were no war fears among Bangladeshis in the Kingdom. “I’ve been going around interacting with the members of the community. I don’t see any tension or panic. All of them are calm,” he said.

Asked about a Dhaka news wire report that Bangladeshis had started flocking back from the Kingdom, Kuwait and other parts of the Gulf, the ambassador said: “Our position is simple. Our people will not leave unless the Kingdom tells us to do so. Our large presence is the expression of solidarity with the Kingdom.”

The report, which quoted a Dhaka tabloid, said at least 2,000 Bangladeshi had abandoned their jobs in the Middle East and returned home last week fearing war over Iraq. “This is not correct,” the ambassador declared. “There are no reliable figures when it comes to our people leaving the Kingdom. We’ve one million Bangladeshis in the Kingdom and 2,000 of them go back home on vacation every month in the normal course of events,” he said.

“Nobody anticipates a situation which warrants an exodus,” the ambassador emphasized.

About 1.7 million Bangladeshis work in the Gulf. They include 300,000 in the United Arab Emirates and more than 150,000 each in Kuwait and Oman, according to the Bangladesh government.

“Our community in Iraq is small, maybe a little over a dozen including the embassy staff in Baghdad, and they will be moved to neighboring Jordan if that seems appropriate,” a ministry source said.

The governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also guaranteed the safety of more than 40,000 Indonesians working in the two countries should the United States attack Iraq, the Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea told the Jakarta Post this week.

“On Tuesday the two countries’ ambassadors promised to protect the safety of Indonesian workers there,” said Jacob in Surakarta, Central Java.

Jacob said the safety assurance given by the two countries would include the establishment of shelters if they are needed.

The government had appointed former TNI chief Adm. Widodo AS and Jacob, assisted by representatives from the Iraqi Embassy, to evacuate Indonesian workers from Middle Eastern countries should a war break out.