Violence cannot redress grievances

We have been the unfortunate witness to most unprecedented destruction where some garment factories were set ablaze by the workers themselves, something that had not happened before.

We, therefore, condemn in the most unequivocal terms the wanton destruction, vandalism and mayhem that were wreaked on a large number of garment factories over the last two days.

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We are deeply perturbed over the disquieting development that has come from the blue, as it were, so we urge that satisfactory answers must be found to the sudden tumbling down of discipline in the garment sector. What are the deeper causes behind the sudden eruption of violence? The mystery must be solved.

We cannot allow a sector that fetches 75 per cent of our foreign exchange earnings, employs 40 per cent of our total industrial workforce, and has achieved an almost 20 per cent growth despite the post-MFA doomsayers' predictions, to be caught up in a state of turmoil.

There are questions that we cannot help but ask. First, insofar as the workers' demands are concerned, those were longstanding and may be genuine also, but these cannot justify discarding peaceful modes of ventilating their grievances. Secondly, the garment factory owners need to also ponder the sudden change of psyche among the workers in letting off their emotions through violent means.

All heads must be put together to bring about an immediate stoppage of the unrest in the garment sector. The genuine demands of the workers should be addressed and those who led and perpetrated the acts of violence must not also escape justice and punishment. Who caused the wanton destruction and vendalism and how the troubles fanned out in and around the Savar EPZ are questions that must be probed in-depth, truth unravelled and made public.