RMG unrest: 'Jalal didn't join workers' demo, why he was killed'
“My husband was the supervisor of a garments factory. He didn’t join the demonstration of workers, neither he was a labour leader. Why was he killed by stray bullets yet?”
Nargis, the wife of Jalal Uddin, 40, was looking for the answer as to why his husband was killed.
Jalal was injured in stray bullets during a demonstration of garment workers in Gazipur’s Konabari on Wednesday.
He later succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Saturday night.
With him, the number of garment worker killed in Gazipur rises to two. On Wednesday, a worker named Anjuara Khatun, 30, died during the protest.
Nargis was wailing near the morgue of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Sunday afternoon. Her only child Jannatul Ferdous Bakiya, 9, was crying alongside mother.
Relatives said Jalal was supervisor of a factory owned by Islam Group.
“My husband went to the factory like every other day. He was coming back home as the factory was declared shut due to the protest. He was shot just near the house,” Nargis said.
Jalal was son of Chan Mia Bhutiar Kandi village in Netrokona’s Kendua upazila. Jalal’s younger brother Saiful Islam came back from Dubai hearing that his brother was injured. He heard the death news of Jalal just after landing in the airport.
Meanwhile, administrative officer Md Abu Sayeed of Tusuka Group in Gazipur’s Konabari filed a case against 224 garment workers on Saturday night over vandalism. With this case, the number of cases filed in Gazipur and Ashulia reaches 35.
Around 19,500 named and unnamed garment workers have been accused in these cases.
In Gazipur, around 15,000-16,000 workers have been made accused in 23 cases. The number of accused in 12 cases in Ashulia is 3,500.
The law enforcers said 123 factories were vandalised in the ongoing unrest in the garment sector.
Several hundred workers staged protest in Mirpur-10 and Mirpur-13 on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, the home minister on Sunday said there is instigation behind the ongoing unrest in the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh.
He said the video footages of the incidents reveal connection of BNP men with the unrest. A leader of Kushtia was encouraging and uniting the demonstrating RMG workers in Gazipur’s Konabari area.
The minister maintained that the workers could have sat with the BGMEA leaders if they had any further demand about the wage hike and settle the issue.
The garment workers are waging movement since 23 October demanding wage hike. The wage board formed by the government on Tuesday fixed Tk 12,500 as minimum wage, which is 56 per cent more than the previous wage. But workers rejected the new wage citing the price hike in the country.
The workers demanded minimum wage of Tk 20,393. Center For Policy Dialogue (CPD) said the minimum wage can be 17,568.