On Monday, CAAB officials and employees staged a protest march, blocking the Dhaka airport highway to demand the cancellation of what they claimed was a proposal to form the force
The Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), Md Monjur Kabir Bhuiyan, has firmly denied any plans to establish the Bangladesh Airport Security Force, calling the recent employee protests against such a move baseless and unnecessary.
On Monday, CAAB officials and employees staged a protest march, blocking the Dhaka airport highway to demand the cancellation of what they claimed was a proposal to form the force. However, CAAB clarified that no such plan exists. The protestors also pushed for strengthening the agency’s structure and promoting self-reliance and sustainable development within CAAB.
“There is no basis for their protest as the issues they raised are baseless. We have not made any such decisions or plans,” said Bhuiyan. He suggested that external influences may have played a role in the demonstration, creating unrest and disrupting order. “No such decision has been made, and we even issued a media rejoinder clarifying the matter,” he added.
The chairman further stated that despite prior communication with officials, the protests were initiated without valid reasons. He suggested that those involved had been misled into creating unnecessary disruption. Addressing security concerns, he said that while the deployment of armed forces could be considered if a detailed threat analysis justified it, no such discussions had taken place so far. “This issue has not been raised in any board meeting or placed on the agenda,” he clarified.
When asked about potential disciplinary actions against those involved in the demonstration, Bhuiyan stated that since this was the first such incident, no action would be taken. However, he warned that strict measures would follow if such protests occurred again.
Md Robin Dewan, a security officer in the aviation security department at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, claimed that plans were underway to form a Bangladesh Airport Security Force, with 70 per cent of personnel being recruited from the Air Force and only 30 per cent from civilian ranks. He argued that this approach was unfair, given that the airport is a civilian organisation and should have a workforce primarily drawn from civilian backgrounds.
“This is why we protested on Monday and presented our demands to CAAB,” said Dewan. However, when asked about the current status of the protests, he stated there were no ongoing demonstrations that day. When pressed on whether the authorities had responded to their demands, he replied, “I don’t know about this,” suggesting that senior officials should be contacted for further details.
Despite the conflicting claims, CAAB’s leadership remains firm that no plans exist for the proposed security force, leaving questions about the motivations behind the protests and the concerns of its employees.
