‘Misrule’ pushing the RMG sector towards ruin

The country is headed towards a "terrible crisis due to the government's deliberate misrule" in the garment sector, BNP said yesterday.

Addressing a virtual press briefing, the party's Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, "If Western sanctions come on the garment industry, how many people will become unemployed? Sheikh Hasina is not thinking about that."

Meanwhile, BNP and its allies are enforcing another 48-hour nationwide blockade starting this morning to protest the polls schedule recently announced by the Election Commission.

"Today, the garment industry is on the verge of ruin. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina doesn't care about it. She is deliberately taking it [the industry] there. She doesn't care about the people ... She only cares about power."

Rizvi added that the government's misrule will bring "terrible consequences" for the country's politics.

About AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader's recent remarks, the BNP leader said the upcoming polls would be a "shared election", fully controlled by the prime minister to fulfil her wish of staying in power.

"Free and fair elections are not in Awami League's genetics."

Quader yesterday told a press briefing that a consensus would be reached between the 14-party members about participating in the polls. "The decision regarding seat-sharing will be announced by today or tomorrow after considering the partners' demand and the reality."

Rizvi added that law enforcers arrested over 19,500 of his party members across the country in 534 cases from October 28 till 3:00pm yesterday.

"At least 285 party workers were detained and 15 cases were filed against 1,395 named and many unnamed in the last 24 hours."

Meanwhile, the Fire Service and Civil Defence reported the torching of one bus in the last two days till 6:00pm yesterday.

Police said arsonists torched a parked bus in Dinajpur Central Bus terminal around 2:30am. No casualties were reported. 

In another development, Rab said it detained 834 people from across the country for vandalism and arson since October 28.

In Chattogram, members of Detective Branch of Chattogram police yesterday arrested three Chhatra Dal members for allegedly torching a bus in the port city's Dampara area on December 3.

(Our Dinajpur, Chattogram also correspondent also contributed to the report.)