DHAKA: Diplomats in Dhaka have questioned Bangladeshi authorities' deadly response to widespread student protests following a foreign minister's presentation that laid the blame for recent violence at the feet of protesters, diplomatic officials said on Monday.
What began as a protest against politicized recruitment quotas for government jobs has turned into the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure, with at least 163 people dead so far, the toll reported by AFP. Police and Hospital.
Foreign Minister Hassan Mahmoud summoned the ambassadors for a briefing on Sunday and showed them a 15-minute video that sources said focused on the damage caused by the protesters.
But a senior diplomatic official in Dhaka told AFP on condition of anonymity on Monday that US Ambassador Peter Haas said Mahmoud was presenting a one-sided version of events.
“I'm surprised you didn't show footage of police firing on unarmed protesters,” the source told Haas to the minister.
The source added that Mahmoud did not respond to a UN representative's question about the alleged use of UN-marked armored personnel carriers and helicopters – which are in the country's military inventory – to quell the protests.
The meeting came after Bangladesh's Supreme Court rolled back recruitment quotas for highly desirable government jobs that have been at the center of protests.
The decision reduced the number of reserved jobs from 56 percent of all posts to seven percent, most of which will still be reserved for children and grandchildren of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
While the decision represented a substantial reduction in the controversial “freedom fighter” category, it fell short of protesters' demands to scrap it altogether.
Critics say quotas have been used to pool public jobs with loyalists of Hasina's ruling Awami League.
A spokesman for Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the demonstration, told AFP: “We will not stop our protest until the government issues an order reflecting our demands.”
Hasina, 76, has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January without real opposition.
Since the crackdown on protests began, some protesters have said they will not be satisfied until Hasina's government leaves.
