Banglalink employees’ leader hospitalised after ‘interrogation’

A Banglalink employees’ union leader has fallen ill while being interrogated by the telecom operator authorities over unrest among the staff.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 Feb 2016, 10:07 AM
Updated : 14 Feb 2016, 11:31 AM

The staffer named Md Mostaque is a power assistant manager and the organising secretary of Banglalink Employees’ Union.

He has been admitted to United Hospital in Dhaka on Sunday, said Ujjal Paul, president of the union.

“Forensic Investigator Selim Kabir, Security Manager Sheikh Moinul Hasan and Head of Operations Maruf Ahmed summoned Mostaque to Level-3 of the office building around 12pm,” Paul told bdnews24.com.

“They then started interrogating him. At one stage, Mostaque collapsed on the floor and lost consciousness. He was rushed to the hospital. We were not allowed to even touch him.”

The Banglalink authorities did not immediately comment on the incident.

Paul said the union had announced to a peaceful hour-long programme before the office hour begins at 9:30am on Sunday, protesting dismissal of a senior engineer.

The administration then suddenly issued a notice on Saturday night saying the office will start from 8:30am on Sunday.

The union leaders then suspended the programme and were waiting to sit for a meeting to discuss the circumstances when Mostaque was called for the ‘interrogation’.

The employees union has been at loggerheads with the Banglalink authorities since Senior Engineer Shariful Islam Bhuiyan, also a union leader, was sacked on Thursday.

The employees confined Chief Technical Officer Perihane Elhamy for about nine hours that day.

They withdrew from the demonstration in early Friday only after assurances that Bhuiyan’s dismissal would be ‘reconsidered’.