MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Thursday to impose a total ban on sending workers to Kuwait because of sexual abuses that have forced some Filipino women to kill themselves.
Duterte said he wanted Filipino officials to hold talks with Kuwait and tell them the abuses are unacceptable and that the Philippines may ban Filipinos from working there unless the abuses end.
"I do not want a quarrel with Kuwait. I respect their leaders but they have to do something about this because many Filipinas will commit suicide," Duterte said in a speech at the launching of a Manila bank for Filipinos abroad.
"We have lost about four Filipino women in the last few months. It's always in Kuwait," Duterte said, without providing details.
Discussing the problem with Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano recently, Duterte said: "My advice is, we talk to them, state the truth and just tell them that it's not acceptable anymore. Either we impose a total ban or we can have this corrected."
More than 250,000 Filipinos work in the Arab nation. The Philippines is a major labor exporter with about a tenth of more than 100 million Filipinos working abroad. The earnings they send home have bolstered the Philippine economy for decades.
Workers endure the threat of abuses, including rape, in some countries to be able to send money home and keep their children in school. But with their parents working abroad, some children end up being sexually abused or become drug addicts, Duterte said, explaining his anger over drug dealers.
Thousands of mostly poor suspects have been killed in Duterte's brutal crackdown on illegal drugs since he took power in 2016, alarming Western governments and human rights groups.
Duterte has denied he condones extrajudicial killings, although he has openly threatened drug dealers with death for years.
He credits his harsh approach to crime for the improvement in law and order in southern Davao city, where he served as mayor for more than two decades before becoming president.
He said about 600 criminals were killed during his time as mayor, but added "It was all legit."
"I never ordered the killing of anybody kneeling in front of me," he said. "You have to kill to make your city peaceful."
Philippine president Duterte threatens to ban deployment of workers to Kuwait
Philippine president Duterte threatens to ban deployment of workers to Kuwait
Bangladesh takes ‘balanced approach’ with Pakistan as talks of defense deal emerge
- Air force chiefs of Pakistan and Bangladesh discussed potential defense pact last week
- Dhaka says plan to procure fighter jets still in early stages, discussions ongoing with several countries
DHAKA: Bangladesh appears to be moving with caution as Dhaka and Islamabad forge closer ties and explore a potential defense deal, experts said on Friday.
Following decades of acrimonious ties, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have been growing since a student-led uprising ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.
Talks on a potential defense deal covering the sale of Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets to Dhaka emerged after Bangladesh’s Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan visit to Rawalpindi last week, where he met with his Pakistani counterpart Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of defense forces.
Bangladesh’s military media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, said the procurement of fighter jets for the Bangladesh Air Force is “in the very rudimentary level,” and currently “under an evaluation process.”
ISPR Director Lt. Col. Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury told Arab News: “The evaluation process will determine which country’s offer proves befitting for us. The air chief’s visit to Pakistan is part of the evaluation process … Earlier, he visited China, Italy (too).
“Discussions are underway with different countries. Nothing concrete has come yet.”
Talks between the high-ranking military officials are the latest development in Bangladesh-Pakistan ties, which have included the resumption of direct trade for the first time since the 1971 war and the expected launch of a regular route from Dhaka to Karachi at the end of this month, following over a decade of suspension.
Though efforts to expand relations can be seen from both sides, the current interim government of Bangladesh led by economist and Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been “showing some kind of pragmatism,” said Prof. Delwar Hossain of Dhaka University’s international relations department.
“Bangladesh is stepping very cautiously in comparison with the advancement from the Pakistan side. Bangladesh is trying to make a balanced approach,” he told Arab News.
“The present government is always saying that the development of a relationship with Pakistan doesn’t necessarily mean that Bangladesh is moving towards a particular camp. Rather, Bangladesh is interested in having a balanced relationship with all the great powers.”
Trade and economy are “naturally” more preferable areas of cooperation for Dhaka, Hossain said, adding that “we need more time to determine” how far military cooperation will be expanded.
Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, a defense expert and retired air officer of the Bangladesh Air Force, said that Bangladesh is “very much in need of advanced aircraft” because its military has not procured new fighter jets in at least two decades.
“Air frigate fighters are badly needed for the Bangladesh Air Force. We had some F-7 produced by China, but they stopped producing these fighters nowadays. Here, Pakistan can be a source for our fighter jets, but it involves … geopolitics,” he told Arab News, alluding to how Dhaka’s defense ties with Pakistan may be perceived by its archrival neighbor India.
Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets, a multi-role combat aircraft jointly developed with China, have drawn international interest following their success last May, when Pakistani and Indian forces engaged in their worst fighting since 1999.
Islamabad said it shot down several Indian fighter jets during the aerial combat, a claim Indian officials later acknowledged after initially denying any losses, but without specifying the number of jets downed.
“Our friendship with Pakistan shouldn’t (come) at the cost of our friendship with India,” Choudhury said.
“With this (potential) defense purchase deal with Pakistan, we have to remain very cautious so that it proves sustainable in the long term.”
