Conspiracy from neighbouring country behind labour unrest: Salahuddin

Conspiracies are being hatched in a neighbouring country to destabilise Bangladesh with local mafia groups working to implement the plots in the form of the ongoing labour unrest, said Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed at a briefing at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

The briefing was held following an inter-ministerial meeting on reviewing the proposed amendments to the “Cyber Protection Act, 2026.”

Some garment manufacturing business owners, former lawmakers, and cabinet members from the Awami League regime were working to implement their political agendas by infiltrating the workers’ protests, the minister claimed, citing preliminary probe findings.

The workers demand of wage hike is legitimate, the minister said. But, the government has already pledged action to meet the demand, and as part of the pledge, officials have announced the workers would get a pay hike starting January, Salahuddin said.

In this backdrop, the garment workers have no unaddressed demand, but still the workers’ protest is continuing and often turning violent, pointing to “ulterior motives” and “infiltration by outsiders,” he said.

No genuine worker is involved in violence and arson attacks during the ongoing protests, he said.

The government has held elaborate and lengthy discussions with representatives from both the garment workers and the owners. Both groups have acknowledged that workers cannot inflict widespread violence, and rather some vested group was using the workers as a cover to realise their “political goals,” the home minister said.

The government is worker-friendly and is committed to ensuring better pay and improved living standards for the workers, he said.

The government has given strict orders to the law enforcers to avoid use of unnecessary force when trying to contain the protests. The violent attacks by workers and their “instigators” have sent many policemen to hospitals with serious injuries.

And yet, the government and law enforcers are showing maximum restraint, Salahuddin said.

But this conciliatory approach by the government cannot be exploited by opportunists. The government would take stern action against the mafia and criminal groups who are infiltrating the workers’ otherwise peaceful protests, he alleged.

Addressing the protesting workers, Salahuddin urged them to return to work at the earliest and ignore incitements by others. If workers return to factory floors, production would resume, business would generate income, thereby benefitting the workers themselves, Salahuddin said, urging them to resume work.