Fifteen Bangladeshi fishermen, including eight from Ramgati in Lakshmipur, have been held in Myanmar prisons for around six months after being detained while fishing in the Bay of Bengal. They were subsequently sentenced to different terms on allegations of entering Myanmar waters, leaving their families in Ramgati, Kamalnagar, Noakhali and Bhola facing severe financial hardship.
The fishermen were detained on 25 March near St Martin’s Island along with a fishing trawler named FB Ma-Babar Doya. Myanmar authorities later brought allegations of unauthorised entry against them and imposed prison sentences of varying lengths.
One of those detained, 15-year-old Md Tahmid from Char Gajaria in Ramgati, has since been released because he was a minor and has returned to Bangladesh. After coming home, Tahmid alleged that the fishermen still held in Myanmar were facing physical and mental abuse and were not being provided with sufficient food.
The detained fishermen come from several coastal areas. Eight are from Ramgati, while others are residents of Kamalnagar, Subarnachar in Noakhali, Pahartali in Chattogram, Daulatkhan in Bhola and Maheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar. Most depend on fishing as their primary source of livelihood, making their prolonged absence particularly damaging to their households.
Abdullah Al Razi, head of the Bangladesh mission in Sittwe in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, said around 180 Bangladeshi nationals were currently being held in Myanmar prisons over allegations of violating the country’s territorial waters. He said an appeal had been submitted to Myanmar’s central government seeking pardon and the release of the detainees.
The prolonged detention has had a serious impact on the fishermen’s families. Many of the households are already vulnerable because of river erosion and a lack of permanent land. With their principal earners unable to return home, families are struggling to pay for food and other basic necessities.
Sumaiya Akter, wife of fisherman Md Nirob of Char Poragachha union, said the family does not own a homestead. She lives beside the Bhuluya River in a small house with her mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law and two daughters. Nirob was the family’s only earning member. Since his detention, she said, the household has been facing an extremely difficult situation.
Farida Begum, mother of fisherman Farhad Hossain from Sonali village in Char Alexander union, described a similar struggle. The family lost its homestead because of river erosion, while Farhad’s father has been left disabled following an accident and remains at home. Farhad was the only earning member of the four-person household. His detention has therefore left the family without its main source of income.
Relatives of the detained fishermen have taken several steps in an effort to secure their release and return. They have organised human chains and other programmes, including a demonstration in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka. They have also contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs and other relevant government offices. Despite those efforts, the families say no final solution has yet been reached.
The detention also highlights the difficulties faced by fishermen operating in waters close to an international maritime boundary. For fishing communities along Bangladesh’s southern coast, distinguishing between fishing grounds and neighbouring territorial waters can have serious consequences when vessels stray across maritime boundaries.
Local officials say efforts to resolve the situation are continuing. Ramgati Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sheikh Ehsan Uddin and local Member of Parliament and parliamentary whip A B M Ashraf Uddin Nijan said diplomatic and administrative efforts were being pursued at the highest level to ensure the fishermen’s safe return.
For the families waiting in Bangladesh, however, the prolonged detention has become a daily struggle. Their main concern is not only the financial hardship caused by the absence of their loved ones but also their safety and living conditions in Myanmar custody. After six months behind bars, the families are hoping that ongoing diplomatic efforts will finally secure the fishermen’s release and bring them home.
