DHAKA: Bangladesh remained under a curfew and widespread communications blackout on Monday, a day after the Supreme Court scaled back a controversial job quota system following deadly clashes that killed more than 100 people over the past week.
University students have been demonstrating since early this month to demand reform of the quota system, which reserves 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war.
Peaceful protests turned violent last week, with 174 people killed and thousands injured in clashes between student protesters and security forces, according to Bengali daily Prothom Alo, which reported more than a dozen deaths on Sunday alone.
Bangladesh was under a third day of curfew on Monday, with the military patrolling the capital and other areas, while internet connectivity remained suspended across the country after it was cut late on Thursday.
“Everything is fine 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 return to normal work. We are expecting broadband services to be restored this evening (Monday). As soon as the situation becomes normal, the duration of the curfew will be reduced.”
On Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered that the quota for relatives of veterans be reduced to 5 percent and that 93 percent of the jobs be awarded on merit, with the remaining 2 percent reserved for ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. .
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh was ruling on the appeal. The government lifted the quotas after 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. It is the opposition parties … who have hijacked the movement from the students,” Barua said.
“The demands of the students have been met by the court, and the government will issue a circular on the government job quota system by Tuesday.”
Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the protests, said on Monday that some of their demands remained unmet, including the reopening of universities and an investigation into the deadly crackdown.
The protesting students are also waiting for an official notification from the government about the Supreme Court decision.
“Since there is a curfew, we are not on the streets now. This will endanger the lives of our students,” Sarjis Alam, protest coordinator for the Students Against Discrimination organization, told Arab News.
“Now we are waiting for the government's circular on the quota system… We have demanded to reform the quota system at all levels of government positions… It is very important for us,” he said. “(After) reviewing the government circular, we can comment whether our demands have been met or not.”
