Jamaat Stages Protest in Dhaka Demanding Lower Fuel and Essential Prices, Hundreds of Women March With Pots and Pans

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's Dhaka Metropolitan North unit staged a protest procession in the capital Dhaka against increases in fuel, gas and electricity prices and the rising cost of daily essentials. Hundreds of women took part in the procession carrying pots and pans and festoons about LPG gas.

The protest procession set out on Thursday (November 5) at 3 pm after a rally under the North Badda bridge. It was led by Mohammad Selim Uddin, a central executive council member of Jamaat, amir of Dhaka Metropolitan North and mayoral candidate for Dhaka North City Corporation.

The party said that because people's incomes are not in step with commodity prices, pressure on ordinary people's lives is growing. Jamaat demanded that fairness be established in the market immediately and that the prices of essential goods be kept at a tolerable level.

Speaking at the rally, Mohammad Selim Uddin said they had taken to the streets to demand the establishment of the people's just rights. There is no balance between people's incomes and commodity prices, he said. Although fuel and electricity prices have risen, incomes have not risen in proportion, making ordinary people's daily lives difficult.

He said the market syndicate must be broken immediately and a supply of essentials at fair prices ensured. Alongside establishing transparency and accountability in the market system, necessary steps must be taken considering ordinary people's purchasing power. He called for effective initiatives to control commodity prices.

On workers' rights, Selim Uddin said the workers' demand for a wage increase was just. Torture, harassment and dismissal of workers must stop, he said, and alongside ensuring wages are paid on time, their just demands must be considered.

He also said vandalising vehicles or setting fire to factories in the name of a just movement was not acceptable. Care must be taken so that no third party can take advantage of the workers' movement for its own interests, he said, calling on those concerned to play a responsible role in protecting workers' rights and maintaining a normal environment in industrial areas.

Others who spoke at the protest rally included Atiqur Rahman, central president of the Bangladesh Sramik Kalyan Federation, Mahfuzur Rahman, Yasin Arafat and Ataur Rahman Sarkar. Leaders of the party at various levels, including Jamal Uddin, Engineer Noman Ahmedi, Maulana Kutubuddin, Fazle Ahmed and Mizanur Rahman Khan, were present.

Speakers at the rally expressed concern over the increases in fuel and electricity prices and the market situation for essentials. They stressed effective steps to reduce people's cost of living, alongside ensuring workers' rights and working environment.

After the rally, the protest procession marched around important roads in Badda. Participants carrying pots and pans and LPG gas festoons chanted slogans protesting the rise in fuel and essential prices. The procession later ended in front of the Badda U-loop.