A newly formed pressure group representing retail depositors has issued an ultimatum to Bangladesh Bank, demanding the immediate appointment of a full, independent board of directors to run Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC. The coalition, operating under the banner of the Islami Bank Socheton Grahak Forum (Conscious Depositors’ Forum), insists that the new governing body must comprise honest, highly qualified, and independent financial professionals selected through transparent consultations with key industry stakeholders.
The forum unveiled its comprehensive seven-point charter of demands during an emergency press briefing on Friday afternoon at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity. At the same event, organisers announced a temporary postponement of a mass depositors’ rally that had been scheduled to take place across the capital this Saturday.
Campaign for Asset Recovery and Structural Reform
Reading from a prepared statement, Nurunnabi Manik, the convenor of the forum, urged the central bank to restore management control to the financial institution’s original founders and foundational shareholders. He pointed out that the banking regulator has already intervened to restructure the boards of several other commercial lenders to reverse years of institutional mismanagement, arguing that Islami Bank requires an identical systemic rescue package.
The forum emphasized that the Sharia-compliant lender must no longer remain vulnerable to corporate looters or politically motivated factions. Manik recalled the controversial regulatory overhaul of 2017, alleging that the bank’s legitimate ownership had been systematically stripped away through the direct abuse of state authority by the previous political regime.
To rectify years of financial irregularities, the forum’s seven-point list calls for the creation of a special judicial tribunal to prosecute individuals who plundered the bank’s assets. Additionally, they want the government to deploy a specialised taskforce to track down and repatriate capital laundered overseas, with the recovered funds ring-fenced specifically to clear the bank’s bad debts. Other legislative demands include the immediate repeal of Section 18(A) of the Bank Company Act and swift legal action to curb deliberate disinformation campaigns targeting the broader Islamic banking sector.
Regulatory Failures and Political Gaslighting
The pressure group expressed deep dissatisfaction with recent comments made by government ministers on the floor of the House. Nurunnabi Manik strongly criticised statements delivered in the National Parliament by the Home Minister and other cabinet members, calling their public assessments of the bank’s financial stability false and highly misleading. The group has demanded a formal, unconditional retraction of those statements from the parliamentary record.
The country’s financial regulator also came under heavy fire during the briefing. The forum accused Bangladesh Bank of failing to implement any effective measures over the past two months to rebuild public confidence among anxious savers. Manik noted that it was highly regrettable that regulatory officials attempted to dismiss legitimate civic protests—aimed solely at protecting personal life savings—as politically motivated disruptions.
Street Demonstrations Deferred for Public Welfare
The decision to put Saturday’s mass rally on hold was ultimately made out of consideration for the public. Organisers explained that they chose to defer the street demonstration due to current adverse weather conditions and to avoid causing any unnecessary logistical disturbance to students sitting the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and Alim examinations across the city.
However, the leadership warned that this suspension remains strictly conditional. If the central bank fails to announce a competent, balanced, and representative board of directors for Islami Bank within the shortest possible timeframe, the forum will resume its street agitation and announce a rescheduled mass rally across Dhaka.