Malaysia Initiates Evacuation Of Citizens From Bangladesh Amid Violent Protests
SEPANG (Selangor, Malaysia), July 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has commenced the evacuation of its citizens from Bangladesh, responding to safety concerns amidst ongoing violent protests that have claimed over 130 lives since mid-July.
Malaysia becomes the second country after India to evacuate its nationals from the crisis-affected nation.
Under the directive of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday, a special flight operated by AirAsia using an Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 at 7:30 AM on Tuesday.
The aircraft, which could accommodate 350 passengers, will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 9:20 AM local time.
Malaysia's Foreign Ministry’s South and Central Asia Division undersecretary Dr Shazelina Zainul Abidin, who is leading the mission, said that over 100 Malaysians including students have been sheltered at the Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka since Monday.
“This evacuation mission has been planned since July 12 and is expected to take less than 12 hours.
“Once we received the green light from our High Commissioner in Bangladesh, we secured the aircraft, but there was a slight delay because we were asked to wait to ensure our students reached our High Commission in Dhaka,” she told Bernama.
The mission involves 15 personnel from the Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Department, and the National Security Council.
Bernama's assistant editor (news service) Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil and photographer Muhammad Izzuddin Abd Radzak are also accompanying the mission to provide coverage.
Huge protests across Bangladesh turned violent with clashes between students, pro-government supporters and armed police.
The protest is the result of widespread anger over civil service job quotas for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, which many Bangladeshis say are discriminatory.
-- BERNAMA
