Workers riot in Bangladesh; over 100 casualties
By Dr. Richard L. Benkin
Dhaka, 24 May, (Asiantribune.com): Reports coming out of Bangladesh tonight tell of extensive damage from two days of rioting between workers and police, with speculation that Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia will declare a State of Emergency when she returns from the United Arab Emirates. According to Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor and publisher of Dhaka’s Weekly Blitz, the violence began when workers set fire to Universe Knitting Sweater Factory and at least eleven other garment factories. Most of the factories were foreign-owned.
The rioting continued again today with other economic sectors targeted. Rioting workers, according to sources inside the country, stopped vehicles and assaulted the passengers. They damaged over one hundred vehicles and set ablaze at least twelve buses. Looting also has been reported. More than 100 casualties and at least one death have been confirmed in Dhaka, a city of over 6.5 million people.
Bangladeshi Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar announced that he was canceling his trip to the United States later this week in order to deal with the social unrest. Today, he deployed police and later the anti-terrorist Rapid Action Battalion to control the situation before the government had to call in the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles. Choudhury reports that he had to avoid the violence in order to get to his newspaper office early in the day, but by the time he came out, “things were quiet and controlled.”
Leaders of the Bangladesh Readymade Garments Exporters Association (BGMEA) met Babar and other ministers, and asked them to “save country's industrial sector from massive devastation,” They demand deployment of the military if needed to control the situation. Trade was to have been a major item on Babar’s US trip.
While it is unclear who might be behind the violence, various conspiracy theories are rampant in Dhaka tonight. Many attribute the unrest to the thirteen leftist parties in the opposition Awami League, which control the trade unions. Others claim it is an Indian attempt to steal market segment. Most ominous is the possibility of Islamist backing for the riots. Islamists have a foothold in the coalition government and police. Bangladesh suffered a string of suicide bombings last fall, and Al-Queida has been moving into neighboring Nepal over the past several months, possibly heading to Bangladesh, the world’s third largest Muslim country.
- Asian Tribune -
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