Jamaat ameer calls for quick decision on garment workers’ fair dues, demands probe into Gazipur worker killing

Opposition leader and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman has called on the government to decide quickly to ensure garment workers receive their fair dues. He said the longer the decision is delayed, the greater the damage to the industrial sector will be. The Jamaat ameer made the call in a video message on Wednesday.

Shafiqur Rahman said, ‘The government should decide quickly so that garment workers get their fair dues. The more this decision-making process is delayed, the more the damage to this sector will grow. In such situations, many opportunists try to misuse various opportunities. The government and everyone concerned must show sincerity and caution in this regard.’

In the video message, Shafiqur Rahman expressed concern over the killing of a worker in Gazipur. He said, ‘Yesterday in Sreepur, Gazipur, a garment worker named Toufiq from Gaibandha was killed. I strongly condemn this killing and firmly demand that those responsible be brought under the law as quickly as possible through a proper investigation.’

The Jamaat ameer said the ready-made garment sector is the country’s main export sector. A major disaster in this sector would harm the overall economy of the country. They had expected the government to reach a logical solution to this problem quickly.

The opposition leader noted that it is impossible for workers to live on low wages at a time of rising prices of daily essentials. He said the wage structure should have been rearranged quickly through discussions with all parties, considering the workers’ demands, which the government has still not been able to do. In his words, just as it is true that ‘if industry survives, the country survives’, the reality that ‘if workers survive, industry survives’ must also be remembered.

Addressing the protesting workers, the Jamaat ameer said, ‘Keep your own factories alive. We stand with your fair rights. Only if industry survives will you survive.’ At the same time, he urged factory owners to consider workers as members of their own families, saying decision-making would then become easier.