DHAKA: Bangladesh remained under a curfew and widespread communications blackout on Monday, a day after the Supreme Court struck down a controversial job quota system following deadly clashes that have killed more than 100 people over the past week. , reduced
University students protested earlier this month to demand reform of the quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war.
According to the statistics of the Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo, which left more than a dozen dead on Sunday alone, last week's peaceful protests turned violent and 174 people were killed and thousands were injured in clashes between protesting students and security forces.
Bangladesh remained under curfew for a third day on Monday, with military personnel patrolling the capital and other areas, while internet connectivity was cut across the country from Thursday night.
Biplab Barwa, special assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Arab News, “Everything is fine across the country today, except for a few isolated incidents in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Narsingdi.
We hope that the situation will improve in the next 48 hours and the country will return to normal operations. We expect to restore broadband internet service tonight (Monday). As soon as the situation returns to normal, the duration of the curfew will be reduced.”
On Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered that the quota for veterans' relatives be reduced to 5 percent and that 93 percent of jobs be allocated on the basis of merit, with the remaining 2 percent reserved for ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities. .
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh decided on the appeal. The government had canceled the quotas following student protests in 2018, but the quotas were reinstated by the Supreme Court in June, triggering a new round of protests.
“Our students are not responsible for chaos and street crimes. Barwa said that it is the opposition parties… who stole the movement from the students.
The demands of the students were realized by the court, and the government will issue a circular regarding quotas for government jobs by Tuesday.
Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the protests, said on Monday that some of their demands, including the reopening of universities as well as an investigation into the deadly crackdown, had yet to be met.
The student protestors are also waiting for the official notification of the Supreme Court ruling by the government.
As the curfew is in effect, we are not on the street at the moment. Sarjis Alam, coordinator of student protests against discrimination, told Arab News.
“Currently, we are waiting for the government's circular on the quota system… We want to reform the quota system in all government jobs… This is very important to us,” he said. (After) seeing the government's circular, we can comment whether our demands have been addressed or not.
