Fresh unrest has erupted at Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC over controversial recruitments made during the S Alam era, just days after Bangladesh Bank ordered all banks to verify the educational certificates of their employees.
Dismissed officers and employees have renewed protests demanding reinstatement. On Monday, the agitation turned violent outside Islami Bank’s head office, leaving at least 55 people injured, according to claims by the two sides.
The dismissed employees later staged a sit-in outside Bangladesh Bank, prompting the central bank to tighten security and restrict entry.
Bangladesh Bank issued a circular on 7 September directing all banks to verify the educational certificates of their officers and employees by 31 March next year.
Clashes and chase-and-counter-chase broke out around 7:30am on Monday outside Islami Bank Tower in Motijheel between dismissed officers and employees and members of the Islami Bank Sachetan Grahak Forum. Both sides had held peaceful programmes at the same location on Sunday.
The dismissed employees, who were recruited during the S Alam Group era and later lost their jobs, had gathered outside the bank’s head office demanding reinstatement. At the same time, members of the Jamaat-e-Islami-leaning Islami Bank Sachetan Grahak Forum also took position there, leading to tensions that eventually erupted into clashes.
The customer forum alleged that the dismissed employees attacked their peaceful programme first. It said at least 30 of its members, including Forum President Nur Nabi Manik, were injured, five of them seriously.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, Manik said, “Those who were illegally recruited have no relationship with the bank. They have taken position here to create a fresh conspiracy against the bank. When we were holding a peaceful sit-in, we came under attack under police protection.”
He added, “Those who carried out the planned attack must be identified and brought to justice.”
The dismissed employees, however, accused members of the customer forum of attacking them. Shahidul Islam, one of the dismissed employees, claimed that at least 25 of them were injured.
“We had been there for only 20 minutes when members of the customer forum attacked us. The police provided protection and removed us. Twenty to 25 people have been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” he said.
After the clashes, the dismissed employees staged a sit-in outside Bangladesh Bank until the afternoon, pressing their sole demand for reinstatement.
Security was tightened around the central bank and access to the premises was restricted.
Following the violence, the Islami Bank Sachetan Grahak Forum held a press conference demanding the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the attack.
Forum President Nur Nabi Manik said they had been holding a peaceful programme demanding that Islami Bank’s board be formed with honest, qualified and professional individuals and protesting what he described as the “malign interference” of S Alam Group in the bank.
He alleged that those involved in the attack might include not only people recruited during the S Alam era and later dismissed but also members of the Awami League, Chhatra League and Jubo League.
After taking control of Islami Bank in 2017 with state backing, S Alam Group recruited around 10,000 officers and employees. A large proportion of them were hired without any competitive examination, while questions have also been raised over the educational certificates of many recruits. Most of them are from Patiya in Chattogram.
During the tenure of the interim government, the bank moved to reassess those recruitments. Around 5,000 employees who did not take part in the reassessment examination later lost their jobs. A section of them has since staged protests at different times demanding reinstatement.
