Speakers, including labour rights activists, on Friday demanded justice for the killing of more than a hundred Tazreen Fashions workers in a factory fire at Ashulia on November 24, 2012.
At a book launch event, they also called on the workers from different sectors to unite in seeking justice for all structural killings of the workers.
Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati, a garment workers鈥� rights organisation, launched the book titled 鈥楰illing of Tazreen Workers: A Tale of Fire and Life鈥� as part of its programme marking 12th anniversary of the fire at Bishwo Shahitto Kendro in the capital鈥檚 Bangla Motor.聽
Mizanur Rahim Chowdhury, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati, said that the workers of Tazreen Fashions lost their lives due to negligence by the Tazreen Fashions owner and now ousted Awami League government.
Instead of punishing the culprit, the then Awami government rewarded Delwar Hossain, who was charged with causing the death of the victims through negligence, by appointing him as the president of the Awami Matsyajibi League鈥檚 Dhaka north unit in 2022.
鈥榃e hope that all the culprits will be brought to justice,鈥� he added.
Presiding over the event online, Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati president Taslima Akhter called on all to unite for justice for all workers鈥� killings and uphold the dignity of workers.聽聽
Samina Lutfa, an associate professor of sociology at Dhaka University, stated that little progress was made in the cases filed over the Tazreen Fashions fire in these 12 years.聽
She said that while workers鈥� rights remained unachieved even after devastating incidents like the Tazreen fire, in just three months of the July-August student-led mass uprising, law enforcers under the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus-led interim government opened fire on the garment workers.
Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua pointed out that labour laws mostly protected the interests of the factory owners and urged workers and professionals from across sectors to unite against such laws.
The book is a compilation of writings, including poems, songs, short stories and images, focusing on the incidents of the Tazreen Fashions fire.聽
