In an interview with The Daily Star last night, they appealed to the garment workers to refrain from violence and requested the garment owners to accept the workers' reasonable demands unilaterally.

They blamed the government for failing to address the age-old problems of the garment sector through an institutional structure.

Pointing to the fact that the garment industry is the backbone of the country's economy, the economists suggested the government to take up "the referee's role" to address these problems and keep the garment industry running smoothly.

Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said the lack of minimum relationship that should exist between the owners and workers of the garment industry pushed the workers into a desperate situation.

The government should immediately form a commission that will submit a set of recommendations within a month to address the basic problems of the sector, he said.

Downplaying the "conspiracy" allegation, he said Bangladesh's exports constitute a very small part of the world's total export volume and an external force would not come to destroy Bangladesh's garment industry.

It is not possible for the politically divided labourers to take any political gain out of this trouble, he observed, adding that the owners are also divided--a fact that often stands in the way of taking a uniform stance to face the common problems of the sector.

About 1,300 garment factories closed down following the 9/11 incident in the USA. Some 150 garment factories are still doing well after the quota was withdrawn, but the rest are surviving only on sub-contracts, Ahmad said.

This latter group cannot pay their workers when they do not have any work, which has caused serious troubles to a huge number of garment workers, he observed.

Zaid Bakht, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said looking for ad hoc solutions will not free the garment industry from problems. The government, the garment owners and workers, and representatives of International Labour Organisation should sit together to find out a long-term solution.

The problems have not formed in one day, but years of deprivation and exploitation of the garment workers have led to this violent outburst. On the one hand, the workers have not been paid the minimum salaries and benefits, and on the other, the industry lacks a good working environment.

There have been accidents one after another and scores have died due to the unsafe working condition. But except for some temporary haphazard decisions, no serious attention has been paid to solve these troubles, Bakht said, adding that both the government and the owners are seemingly indifferent to these problems.

Citing the examples of Sri Lanka and Cambodia, he said some of Bangladesh's competitors have gradually solved the problems in their garment industry, but Bangladesh has not addressed its problems with the same emergency.

Referring to the incidents of Kansat and Shanir Akhra, Bakht said the reaction pattern of people has apparently taken a violent turn as they have not seen any response from the authorities for years.

Atiur Rahman, noted economist and chairman of non-government research organisation Shamunnaya, described the violent outburst in the garment industry as the result of pent-up grievances of its workers.

The government has also its share of negligence, he said, adding that it should have played the referee's role in addressing the workers' grievances. The government, the owners and the owners must sit together frequently and take care of these troubles, he suggested.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, said the owners will have to unilaterally accept all justified demands of the workers. He also suggested initiating a social dialogue with the government playing the role of a mediator to find out long-term solutions to these problems.

"If there were any conspiracy, why did then such a large number of female workers take to the street?" Debapriya said.

He, however, urged the workers to refrain from violent agitation and try to find out solutions through peaceful talks.