Dhaka: There was a curfew and widespread communications blackout in Bangladesh on Monday, a day after the Supreme Court rolled back a controversial job quota system following deadly clashes that killed more than 100 people last week.
University students have been protesting since earlier this month demanding reform of the quota system, which has 30 percent reservation in government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's 1971 independence war.
Peaceful protests turned violent last week, with 174 people killed and thousands injured in clashes between student protesters and security forces, with more than a dozen dead on Sunday alone, according to Bengali daily Pratham Alo's tally.
Curfew continued for a third day in Bangladesh on Monday, with army personnel patrolling the capital and other areas, while internet connectivity remained suspended across the country after being disrupted since Thursday night.
“Everything is in order across the country today except for a few isolated incidents in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Narsingdi,” Biplab Barua, special assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Arab News.
“We hope that in the next 48 hours, the situation will improve, and the country will go back to normal operations. We are expecting to restore broadband internet services tonight (Monday). The length of curfew hours will be eased as soon as the situation normalizes.”
On Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered that the quota reserved for ex-servicemen's relatives be 5 percent and 93 percent based on merit and the remaining 2 percent for caste minorities and persons with disabilities. .
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh gave its verdict on the appeal. The quotas were abolished by the government after student protests in 2018 but they were reinstated by the High Court in June, setting off a new phase of the protests.
“Our students are not responsible for the chaos and atrocities on the streets. It is the opposition parties … that hijacked the movement from the students,” Barua said.
“The court has fulfilled the demand of the students, the government will issue a circular by Tuesday about the quota system in government jobs.”
Students Against Discrimination, the organizing group of the main anti-discrimination movement, said on Monday that some of its demands, including the reopening of universities and an investigation into the deadly crackdown, had not yet been met.
The students are also protesting while waiting for the government to issue an official notification about the Supreme Court's decision.
“Because of the curfew, we are not on the streets now. It puts the lives of our students at risk,” Sarjis Alam, coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination protest, told Arab News.
“Now we are waiting for the government's circular on the quota system… We had demanded to revise the quota system in all levels of government jobs… This is very important for us,” he said. After looking at the government's circular, we can comment whether our demands have been addressed.
