Clashes between student protesters and security forces killed at least 147 people across Bangladesh after the High Court last month reinstated job reservations removed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in 2018.
Let us now understand what happened in Bangladesh. Thank you. Students and protesters across the country have been protesting against the policy of favouring certain group of children of freedom fighters in Bangladesh War of Independence.
These protests have been in place for more than 10 days in a row. Presently, these protests are on hold. Quote, Our demand is the government restore the internet, withdraw curfew, reopen campuses and protect the student protesters, says Nahid Alam, the top leader of student against discrimination.
As per the news agency AFP. Let us now understand what really happened here. The protests are being Test were being carried against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman initially constituted a freedom fighter quota in order to give jobs to freedom fighters in the government services.
In March of 2018, the Bangladesh High Court rejected a petition challenging the legality of this quota system in the country. The quota system existed since early 1970s when Mujibur Rehman initiated the quota. This quota was a declaration, This quota seemed to be an emotional matter for the present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As the Bangladesh High Court rejected the plea, Hasina declared that she would maintain the quota for the descendants of veterans of the liberation of war.
This declaration of support however for the descendent of the liberation war triggered a major agitation among the students, by the students. Responding to the agitation Hasina cancelled all the quotas in Bangladesh civil service through an executive order. However, the students wanted to reform the quota system and not abolish it. It came to be seen as a fact that if the freedom fighters were not to get any quota then no one else would either. During the next two years several rounds of discussions were held and Ms.
Hasina struck to her decision to abolish all quotas and in 2020 the executive order became operational. So what happened next? On June 5, 2024, the Bangladesh High Court nullified Ms. Hasina’s executive order that had dissolved all quotas.
This action automatically restored all quotas in Bangladesh Civil Service. Thank you. It became apparent that since the court has brought back the quota system, Ms. Hasina would try and ensure that the earlier system of 30% quota for descendants of freedom fighters is reintroduced in the new quota system and this triggered the current protests.
Thank you. Let us now understand what are the present demands of the protesters. report by Al Jazeera, a list of demands by students have been circulated in an underground press release, which says that the Prime Minister must accept responsibility of the mass killings of students and issue a public apology.
Police officers present in the sites where the students were killed must be sacked. Moreover, it also says that the Home Minister and the Road Transport and Bridges Minister must resign from their positions and the party. It also has other major demands, which includes that all their educational institutions and halls of residences must be reopened. Presently, the protests are on hold for two days as we write this story.
We will keep you updated on what happens next in Bangladesh.
