Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia has blamed “instigation by competitor foreign countries” for the recurring violence in the country’s money-spinning garment sector.
Her accusation on Friday came amid efforts by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to correct the problems in the ailing garment sector plagued by poor wages and working conditions and bad employer-employee relations.
The government this week moved to organise trade unions to allow for collective bargaining without resort to violence in the sector that is the country’s highest money-earner.
Three people were killed and hundreds injured in the last round of police-workers clash after an employer locked out without paying wages for three months.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) alleged a “foreign hand” in the trouble after Hasina ordered action against the erring employer.
Zia supported the employers’ viewpoint at the closing ceremony of Bangladesh Apparel & Textile Exposition 2009 (Batexpo), organised by BGMEA.
“Instigation by competitor foreign countries and external hands in the attempt to create anarchy in this sector will not be far-fetched,” The Daily Star quoted her as saying on Friday.
But she asked BGMEA leaders to pay the workers the standard minimum wages in the first week of every month.
The “foreign conspiracy” charge is not new in Bangladesh.
When irate workers turned violent due to non-payment of wages in 2007 and caused arson in 200 garment factories, ministers in the then Zia government alleged a “foreign hand” for the trouble. India was cited as among the competitors working to harm Bangladesh’s garment export market.
In a recent meeting with foreign diplomats and donor agency representatives, Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the country’s main opposition in parliament, complained of “repression” of its leaders and cadres by the government.
At a tea party it hosted last week as part of the preparations for the organisation’s national council meeting scheduled for next month, its leaders justified boycott of parliament for the last nine months. They said no important issue was being
discussed there.
Representatives of 25 countries and donor agencies, including the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, European Union, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Morocco, China, and Spain were present.
BNP is headed by Begum Khaleda Zia, two-term former prime minister (1991-96 and 2001-06) who is also designated the leader of the opposition.
She was not present to brief the diplomats.
Zia, as per media reports, has been saying that the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which took office in January, was reversing the previous Zia government’s “nationalist” policies and was “surrendering to foreign forces”.
The BNP plans to invite foreign guests including prominent global personalities as observers to its national council meeting that will be held in the capital, according to party leaders.
A diplomat asked a BNP leader why the national party council was being held after a 16-year gap, and about how the party was run, a news report said quoting an unnamed source.
Reaching out to foreign missions is frequently resorted to by the party in opposition in Bangladesh. It is much to the chagrin of the one in power that berates the diplomatic corps, alleging “interference in our internal
affairs”.
Zia has in the recent past addressed letters to foreign missions, and a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, protesting the latter’s plans to build a dam at Tipaimukh over Barak river in northeastern India. IANS |
