Bangla Press Desk: A fresh fracas occurred around the reorganized Islami Bank as its retrenched S Alam-time staff bid for a comeback was resisted Sunday by 'conscious clients' backing bank's current normal run, witnesses said.
The two rival groups staged programmes in front of the headquarters of the bank in Dhaka's Dilkusha business district.
The fired Islami Bank officials appointed during S Alam's tenure and customers under the banner of Sachetan Grahak Forum (Conscious Customers Forum) held counter sit-ins in front of the bank head office with competing demands.
Both groups began their programmes in front of Islami Bank Tower around 9:00am and left the area around 1:00pm. The demands of the two groups were diametrically different as both sides have rivalry with each other.
There was a faceoff between customers and dismissed staff. Sachetan Grahak Forum opposed the dismissed employees' demand for reinstatement and called for the bank's normal operations to continue and action to be taken against irregularities.
Both sides announced that they will again observe sit-in-programmes today (Monday) too at the same venue to press home their demands.
The Conscious Customers Forum demanded that the bank be kept free from the influence of the embattled S Alam Group, "ensuring good governance by preserving the interests of the depositors' money".
On the other hand the sacked officials and employees demanded reinstatement, while several hundred customers were protesting against what they described as the "conspiracy of S Alam's looters".
Vice-president of the forum Shamim Hasnain told the FE writer that they took position in front of the bank at night after learning that the dismissed employees had planned to hold a programme there.
He alleged that during S Alam's tenure, many were appointed through irregularities and forged certificates. After 5 August 2024, the bank took initiatives to verify the certificates of these appointments.
He said that there was also an initiative to retain qualified candidates through examinations. But they did not take part in the exam.
"Now they are creating chaos in front of the bank demanding their jobs back. The Grahak Forum will not accept such chaos in front of the bank," Shamim vowed.
A dismissed employee, who preferred not to be named, said they have been living a "subhuman existence" since losing their jobs.
He claimed that the bank's new board of directors formed after 5 August 2024 dismissed them.
"We will not return home until we get our jobs back. We will return home only with our jobs back," he said.
He demanded that the Bangladesh Bank should investigate and submit a report regarding allegations that some employees were appointed using forged certificates. "If our appointments are proven illegal, we'll return all the money earned from the job."
