It was reported yesterday that about 25,000 migrant workers had returned to Bangladesh for holidays but could not return after Covid-19 broke out early this year.

Several of the workers staged a demonstration in Dhaka on Monday to ask their government to intervene so they could return to Malaysia. They said the visas of most of them had expired.

They also asked the Bangladeshi government to provide them with financial assistance because they have been jobless for more than seven months.

Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Masud Momen talked to Malaysian high commissioner-designate Haznah Md Hashim in an online meeting over the matter and sought support from the Malaysian government to resolve the problem of the stranded workers.

New Age Bangladesh, quoting diplomatic sources, said Masud urged the Malaysian government to regularise the visas of the workers.

According to the news outlet, Haznah said she would take up the matter with the appropriate authorities in Malaysia.

She also suggested that the issues pertaining to the stranded workers could be discussed in the joint working group of the two countries on workers, the report said.

It quoted a diplomat as saying the joint working group meets on an as-needed basis.