Khabor Wala Desk
Published: 17th July 2026, 9:49 PM
A pressure group representing depositors has demanded that Bangladesh Bank immediately appoint a full and independent board of directors to run Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC. The group, known as the Islami Bank Socheton Grahak Forum (Conscious Depositors’ Forum), insists the new board must consist of honest, highly qualified, and independent financial professionals chosen through transparent consultations with major stakeholders.
The forum presented a seven-point charter of demands during a press conference on Friday afternoon at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity. At the same briefing, organisers announced the temporary postponement of a mass depositors’ rally that was originally scheduled to take place across the capital on Saturday.
Nurunnabi Manik, the convenor of the forum, read from a prepared statement urging the central bank to return control of the Sharia-compliant lender to its original founders and foundational shareholders. He pointed out that the central bank has already restructured the boards of several other commercial banks to reverse years of mismanagement, and argued that Islami Bank deserves the same systemic rescue.
The forum stressed that the financial institution should no longer remain vulnerable to corporate looters or politically motivated factions. Manik recalled the events of 2017, alleging that the bank’s legitimate ownership had been systematically stripped away through the direct abuse of state authority by the previous regime.
To address 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 to clear the bank’s 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 Islamic banking sector.
The pressure group expressed strong dissatisfaction with recent comments made by government ministers. Nurunnabi Manik strongly criticised statements delivered in parliament by the Home Minister and other cabinet members, calling their assessments of the bank’s financial health false and misleading. The group has demanded a formal retraction of those statements from the parliamentary record.
The country’s financial regulator also came under fire. 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.
The decision to put Saturday’s mass rally on hold was made out of consideration for the public. Organisers explained that they chose to defer the demonstration due to current adverse weather conditions and to avoid causing any unnecessary disturbance to students sitting the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and Alim examinations.
However, the leadership warned that this suspension is 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.
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