Ansar personnel besiege Secretariat, meet with home advisor

Around 3pm, some home ministry officials spoke to a delegation of Ansar personnel and let them into the home advisor's office

Thousands of Ansar members have blocked the entrances to the Secretariat, demanding the regularisation of their jobs.

A delegation of Ansar personnel is holding a meeting with the home affairs advisor at the Secretariat.

Ansar-Village Defence Force Director General Maj Gen Abdul Motaleb Sajjad Mahmud is also present at the meeting.

Faisal Hasan, senior information officer of the home ministry, told bdnews24.com: “A seven-member delegation of Ansar personnel has come to the home advisor’s office.”

The Ansar members, who are currently working on a contract of Tk 540 per day, are demanding permanent government jobs.

They have been protesting at different places in the capital for the last couple of days, pushing for their one-point demand.

In the face of the movement, the Ansar personnel also held a rally in front of the National Press Club around 8am on Sunday.

Police blocked the Topkhana Road leading towards the foreign ministry due to the demonstration in front of the press club.

The protesting Ansars said that they are coming to Dhaka from all over the country to join the rally. After some time, they spread throughout the area as their numbers swelled.

At one point, they tried to enter the Secretariat premises through the Power Development Building, or Bidyut Bhaban, but failed. Later, they besieged all the entrances to the Secretariat to prevent people from entering and exiting the building.

Around 3pm, some home ministry officials spoke to a delegation of Ansar members and let them into the home advisor's office.

At that time, one of the members of the delegation told bdnews24.com: “They told us ‘come inside, the home affairs advisor will speak with you.’ Let’s see who they ask us to sit with. No matter what assurances are made, unless our demands are met, we won't call off our movement."

Ansar members remained outside all the Secretariat gates even after 6pm.

Around 6:15pm, one member was heard saying that the movement would continue if their demand for nationalisation was not met, adding that just abolishing the leave or rest system would not be enough.

Ansar member Shahbaz Hossain told bdnews24.com, "The advisors mentioned in a meeting with our representatives that they would abolish the rest system, but we don’t accept this.

“Our demand is nationalisation, and it must be fulfilled. If not, we won’t leave the streets," he added.