Staff Reporter:
Business leaders have protested implicating Bashundhara Group high-ups along with Sheikh Hasina in three murder cases over state-backed killings during the July-August student-led protests.
The Group’s Managing Director Sayem Sobhan Anvir and Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan have been named accused along with Sheikh Hasina and 533 others in three cases.
The unnecessary harassment of Bashundhara Group leadership would disrupt key supply chains, which is unwarranted amid the ongoing economic crisis in the country, the protesting business leaders said urging the interim government to prevent such harassment on a priority basis.
They claimed that many businesspeople including the two aforementioned Bashundhara Group officials, were forced by the ousted autocratic Sheikh Hasina-led government to issue statements favouring her political party and her government.
The business leaders were warned that their business activities would be disrupted if they decline to issue pro-Awami League statements, said FBCCI Director Md Iqbal Hossain Chowdhury.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Ashraf Ahmed said that if businessmen are harassed, the supplies of goods would be disrupted.
Bangladesh Jeweller’s Association (BAJUS) spokesperson Anowar Hossain said businessmen have to be protected from the kind of harassments they faced in the past at all cost.
Businessmen contributed the most towards building a country, and this fact applies to not only Bangladesh but the entire world. For the betterment of the economy, business activities have to be always viewed in positive light, Anowar said.
Many vested parties have an interest in harassing businessmen, while many hold grudges against business owners, Anowar said urging all to be alert against the conspiracies planned by such groups.
If a businessman truly commits a crime, he or she has to be tried under existing laws, Anowar said that they cannot be harassed unnecessarily.
Iqbal Hossain Chowdhury said that against the current volatile economic background, the interim government should rather use the business community to its advantage, and focus on encouraging businessmen in continuing their activities.
