Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and former MP Professor Mia Golam Porwar has issued the following statement on September 12, expressing deep concern over the extreme unrest in the garment industry particularly workers' protests and vandalism in Gazipur and Dhaka's Ashulia.

There is extreme unrest in the garment industry in the face of workers' protests and vandalism in Gazipur and Dhaka's Ashulia. Garment industry workers of these areas are protesting seeking payment and increasing of salaries. As a result production activities have been disrupted. More than 50 factories have been declared closed indefinitely. Apart from this, general holidays have been declared in other nearby factories.

We are closely monitoring the ongoing unrest and worker dissatisfaction in the country's garment industry. Garment industry is the largest and single sector of export earnings of the country. Instability in this sector will in no way bring welfare to the country's economy. In addition, all our neighboring countries, and our competitors, will take advantage of this unrest for destroying our garment industry. As a result it will be very easy for them to capture our market and they will get benefit from it.

It is very sad that the Awami fascist government left no chance to politicize this large private sector like all other institutions of the country. As a result, the last 16 years in BGMEA have been turned into a focal point for rehabilitating Awami leaders. BGMEA's pro-Awami League panels were busy in flattering Awami Ministers, MPs and their own contractor for obtaining benefits without paying attention to the issues related to the development of this sector or the interests of the owners and workers.

Dhaka City North Awami League secretary SM Mannan Kochi has recently seized the post of BGMEA president. It is heard that he does not even have a garment company of his own. He was also involved in the indiscriminate killing and repression of students in Mirpur and Uttara in the anti-discrimination movement of students.

"In such a situation, I call on the law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies of the country to investigate the misdeeds of Kochi and his appointed board and also to find out their alleged instigation behind ongoing labor movement. At the same time, we request all the labors' organizationsn of the RMG sector to identify those miscreant groups or circles who are using the name of workers and workers' organizations to destabilize the country and the garments industry and subsequently to hand them over the law enforcers.

We have to remember - if the country's industry survives, we will survive and the wheels of the country's economy will continue to function. So let us all work together to protect the employment of the garment industry, the largest export sector of the country and take the country forward towards prosperity.