Zakiul Ehssan

𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐩 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐬: 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 On 31 March this year, 257 HSBC Bangladesh officers went home without a job. Many had given the bank fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years. Several had taken home loans at staff rates because they trusted their employer. HSBC shut a retail unit that was still turning a profit, then paid most of them, at best, ten to fifteen months salary. Back in 2011-12, the same bank in Bangladesh offered its staff members either redeployment or five years pay. The affected officers say HSBC paid colleagues in India and Sri Lanka many times what it paid them. In Sri Lanka, HSBC didn't just shut the door; it sold the business, and the buyer agreed to offer a job to every retail staff member. Bangladeshi workers got a termination letter. And look at the letter itself. According to the officers, HSBC described them to Bangladesh Bank as "retrenched", which carries legal obligations, but handed them ordinary Section 26 termination letters, which carry far fewer. When the central bank asked for maximum benefits, the bank's position in court was that the directive wasn't binding. Provident fund and gratuity deductions, WPPF dues, waivers signed under pressure: the list of grievances is long, and HSBC's public answer has been that it doesn't discuss employee compensation. HSBC ain’t the only case. Grameenphone went to the High Court in 2010 to avoid paying workers their 5% profit share under WPPF. The workers won in 2014. The company paid the principal a year later, and the delay penalty, by the workers' account, is still unpaid. Fifteen years. Nearly four thousand families. Now Standard Chartered is reportedly preparing its own retail exit. Its staff should be asking hard questions today, not after the town hall. The bitter reality is this: a sacked bank officer pays his lawyer out of a shrinking severance cheque. A multinational pays for its lawyers out of a quarterly budget, and in Bangladesh that money buys the best-connected (of course with established political networks) firms in the country. Our courts move slowly, and slowness favours the side that can afford to wait. When legal outcomes are shaped as much by who you know as by what the law says, "go to court" is not a remedy. And the press often covers the press conferences and enjoys light refreshments. But you won’t notice the intrepid journalists investigating the details. Well, they have a great excuse ready—these institutions are among the biggest advertisers in our newspapers. Disgraceful indeed. A global bank that pays fairly in Colombo and Mumbai and hesitates to pay the legal minimum in Dhaka is telling us exactly what it thinks Bangladeshi workers are worth. Bangladesh Bank, the labour ministry and DIFE need to stop treating this as a private dispute. And those of us in the media need to decide whether we report on these companies or stay silent and help their such awful practices.

𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍’𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍’𝐓 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 India has been throwing non-stop jabs at Bangladesh over minority rights since the 5th of August but when Bangladesh gives one back, it resorts to childish retorts. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others, remember? India has systematically persecuted its own minority communities through violence, surveillance and institutional discrimination, so it has no moral high ground to pontificate on minority issues in Bangladesh. What is worse is India has now become a safe haven for mass murderers —specifically, the monstrous elements of the Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) and its chief Sheikh Hasina. BAL is responsible for the killing of over 1,500 innocent civilians and the maiming of more than 30,000 others — all for daring to demand justice and democratic rights. And where did the masterminds of this carnage flee to? Straight to the warm embrace of India. Not only did India offer them refuge, but now, after the recent escape of top BAL leaders to its soil, it has gone a step further: it is protecting and empowering the very architects of mass murder. In doing so, India has spit in the face of international justice and the universal values of human dignity. What right does India have to speak on human rights when it is actively aiding and abetting those responsible for mass atrocities? What kind of twisted morality allows a nation to harbour fugitives with blood on their hands while weaponising human rights and minority rights discourse for geopolitical gain? India's actions are not just hypocritical —they are dangerous. By providing safe passage and shelter to the killers of thousands, it has directly undermined the global fight against impunity. It has insulted the pain of the victims. It has fuelled further resentment in the region. And it has revealed, beyond any doubt, that its interest lies not in justice, but in manipulation, destabilisation and deception.

𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Central bank governor New central bank Governor Ahsan Mansur talks about the hunt for wealth transferred out of Bangladesh by political and business elites. aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/… Report by @AJIunit @AJEnglish