By GCR Staff0 CommentsJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed anger yesterday over the grisly massacre of seven Japanese citizens working on an infrastructure project in Bangladesh during Friday’s Islamist terror attack in Dhaka.
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The hospitality sector is also seeing cancellations, hotels are tightening security and foreign embassies are looking at reducing staffing after the attack claimed the lives of nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American, an Indian and some Bangladeshi nationals.
Fast Retailing Co, the Japanese owner of the Uniqlo casual-wear brand, said it will suspend all but critical travel to Bangladesh and has told staff there to stay indoors. The company is one of many that has manufacturing units in Bangladesh, which earns 80% of its export earnings from the garments industry.
The firm had already put travel restrictions in place past year following attacks on foreigners.
Puma said it would continue to source products from Bangladesh, and was not restricting staff travel.
Retailers that have factories in the country include Marks and Spencer, H&M and Gap.
The country has been witnessing gruesome attacks on its liberals, intellectuals, journalists and activists led by the Islamic State and Al Qaeda over the past two years.
“We have taken necessary security procedures”, she added.
It has yet to be confirmed if any of the deceased include the 7 Japanese nationals that have still not been accounted for, but local media reports have stated that many of those killed were dispatched execution style and at least one of the assailants was carrying a “sharp weapon” leading to speculation about the slain hostages possibly being decapitated by their captives.
“Bangladesh has never seen such a horrific incident”, said Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. “I was just speaking to a top label which said its official who was supposed to visit Bangladesh to inspect an order has refused to go”.
A Bangladesh-based executive for a French-based garment buyer said he feared a deep slump in business in the coming days.
Industry analysts have suggested brands could now consider shifting out of Bangladesh and into other less unsettled countries in the wider region from Cambodia to Sri Lanka.
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The country’s garment producers are now racing to reassure major foreign fashion brands, mostly based in North America and Europe, that contracts will be honored and employees in Bangladesh will be protected.
