Editorial
Continuing violence in Ashulia
Crisis runs deeper than we had thought
WE had thought that after two days of mayhem and vandalism in Ashulia, matters would settle down and conditions would go back to being normal. But the outrage that was perpetrated on Monday through the destruction of six factories, two warehouses and some vehicles of Ha-Meem group has left us, indeed the rest of the country, in a state of profound shock. The vandalism that had been going on took an even more violent form on Monday, with workers participating in the destruction in a manner hardly imaginable. And it is not just Ha-Meem that has been the target of the attacks. Fifty other factories and more than twenty vehicles were also left damaged on the day.
The enormity of the violence, at once mindless and well-planned, shows that the crisis in Ashulia is much deeper than has so far been perceived. Obviously, in such situations, it is only normal to speculate on who or what can be influencing matters from behind the scenes. While it is an established fact that a large number of workers, coming from various industrial units, have been responsible for the outrage, the feeling is equally credible that unseen elements may have been fuelling the entire sordid episode from a safe distance. Mayhem on a serial scale cannot be a spontaneous happening. The way in which one factory after another has been put to the torch (and let us not forget that outsiders also appear to be involved here) is a broad hint of how well-laid a conspiracy may now be at work.
The question of the violence apart, one fails to understand the inability of the garments sector as well as the government to anticipate the resentment that might have been caused by such acts as retrenchment of workers. In the present instance, the sacking of a thousand workers of a sick industry in Ashulia a few days ago as reported should have prepared the government, the BGMEA and the management of the sick industry itself for a probable backlash and so made it possible for pre-emptive measures to be taken. That did not happen. In fact, in such situations, now as also in the past, no information gathering techniques regarding such matters as workers' growing resentment, the role of sinister forces in fuelling discontent, et cetera, have been observed. The result is there for all of us to see.
At this point, it is difficult to understand that workers' grievances will be so acute as to impel them into destroying the very organizations which are a source of their livelihood. And yet that is a fact, together with the truth that outsiders may have been manipulating such grievances in their own vested interest. In the past, one government after another has suspected sabotage in attacks on the RMG sector. But no government has so far actually taken steps to expose or ferret out these perceived saboteurs, which is a pity. Additionally, every time the sector has come under violent assault, governments have been found dismally wanting in providing them with quick and full security.
Can we, after the latest bouts of violence in Ashulia, expect some real change for the better? Hard, purposeful action is called for.
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