The government believes attempts to create unrest in the country by exploiting garment workers’ protests may continue beyond December, as long as Awami League president Sheikh Hasina remains alive, Prime Minister’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Zahed Ur Rahman said on Tuesday.

The government is prepared to resist such attempts, he told reporters at a press briefing on the progress of various government activities at the Secretariat.

Zahed said garment workers’ wages are generally reviewed every five years, with wage structures revised in 2006, 2010, 2013, 2018 and 2023.

Accordingly, there was no plan to form a new wage board in 2026, just three years after the previous revision, he said.

Considering the rising cost of living, inflation and increased fuel prices, the government formed the board ahead of schedule out of sympathy for the workers, he said.

“We are ready to understand that the cost of living is rising and life is becoming difficult for our garment workers. There is no denying that. There is inflation, fuel prices are rising, and the prices of many other things are going up as a result. The government formed this board early out of sympathy,” he said.

The adviser said the workers’ main demand behind the movement should have been addressed through the formation of the wage board.

Raising allegations of violence and sabotage during protests over workers’ legitimate demands, he said the violent acts seen among some people could not have been the behaviour of genuine garment workers.

He said the Home Minister referred to possible involvement from across the border in the incidents, based on intelligence information.

Zahed also said that although  Awami League might not have the organisational capacity to become politically active, it could use its substantial financial resources to create sabotage in different places.

Asked whether the unrest is being engineered to pave the way for Sheikh Hasina’s return to Bangladesh in December, Zahed said the matter was not limited to that month.

Referring to a statement Sheikh Hasina made on the first day of parliament after the 1991 election, Zahed said she had then declared that she would not allow the government to remain in peace for even a single day after her party's defeat.

He said a similar mindset might still be reflected in the current situation.