DHAKA: Bangladesh remains in a shutdown and a general communications blackout on Monday, a day after the Supreme Court scaled back a controversial job quota system following deadly clashes that have killed more than 100 people in the past week.
Students at the university demonstrated 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.
Peaceful protests turned violent last week, with clashes between student protesters and security forces killing 174 people and injuring thousands, according to a tally by Bengali daily Prothom Alo, which reported more than a dozen deaths on Sunday alone.
Bangladesh was still under lockdown for a third day on Monday, with military personnel patrolling the capital and other areas, while internet connectivity remained suspended across the country as it was cut since Thursday evening.
“Everything is fine today across the country except for a few separate 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 look better and the country will go to normal operations. We expect to restore broadband services this evening (Monday). As soon as the situation looks normal, the duration of the shutdown hours will be eased.”
On Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered that the quota reserved for relatives of veterans be reduced to 5 percent and that 93 percent of the jobs be allocated on merit, while the remaining 2 percent will be reserved for members of ethnic minorities and the disabled. .
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh was ruling on an appeal. The government abolished the quotas following student protests in 2018, but they were reinstated by the High Court in June, sparking a new round of demonstrations.
“Our students are not responsible for the anarchy and atrocities in the streets. The opposition parties… are the ones who have hijacked the student movement,” Barua said.
“The demands of the students have been met by the court and the government will issue a circular on the quota system in the government job by Tuesday.”
Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the protests, said on Monday that some of their demands were still unmet, including the reopening of universities as well as investigations into the deadly crackdown.
The student protesters are also waiting for the government to issue an official notification regarding the Supreme Court's decision.
“Since this is ongoing, we are not on the streets at the moment. It will endanger the lives of our students,” Sarjis Alam, protest coordinator at Students Against Discrimination, told Arab News.
“Right now, we are waiting to see the government circular on the quota system… We have demanded reform of quota systems in all grades of government jobs… It is very important for us,” he said. “(After seeing the government's circular, we can comment whether our demands have been addressed or not.”
