exploreworld.co.in
BANGLADESH: For weeks, hundreds of university students in Dhaka and other cities have been gathering to protest against the Bangladeshi quota.
During student protests calling for the reform of the quota system for government jobs in Bangladesh. The escalating violence has resulted in over 2,500 injuries and at least 32 deaths.
A day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the network in an attempt to defuse the worsening conflicts. The rallies took an even more nasty turn on Thursday when protesting students set fire to the nation’s state broadcaster.
Civil war in Bangladesh
Weeks have passed since hundreds of university students in Dhaka and other towns staged protests against the public sector job reservation system.
which includes a quota for the family of war heroes who fought for the nation’s independence from Pakistan in 1971.
The protest in Bangladesh were spark by the Bangladesh high court overturning the government decision to abolish the government job quota in 2018.
The demonstration, which start last month, were set off by this court decision.
The Supreme Court has set August 7 as the date for hearing the government’s petition and has postponed the high court’s order.
Following Sheikh Hasina’s refusal to accede to the students’ requests, citing legal processes, the rallies became more violent.
This week, conflicts between thousands of anti-quota protestors and members of Hasina’s Awami League party’s student branch turned violent. The police used noise grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets to scatter the demonstrators, but to no effect.
Since Thursday afternoon, authorities have closed the metro rail system within the city as well as the trains that travel to and from Dhaka due to the unrest. Additionally, the government has issued orders to shut down mobile internet networks in a number of the nation’s regions. Netblocks reported a “near-total internet shutdown” in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh PTI:
See also: Indian citizens in Bangladesh are advised not to go in the midst of anti-quota demonstrations
According to PTI, the Bangladesh Chhatra League…
The student arm of the ruling Awami League, had a hacked website and the Bangladesh police website was down earlier on Thursday.
In response to the growing protests, the government of Bangladesh has also decided to permanently close all schools and universities.
The students are demanding the repeal of a quota system that reserves over half of government positions for certain groups.
Such as veterans’ children from the nation’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
When it was first implemented in 1972, Bangladesh’s quota system underwent several modifications. The system covers various groups: families of liberation fighters, women, people from impoverished areas, the disabled, and Indigenous tribes
According to Reuter, one-tenth of the total is allocate to women and people from impoverished areas, one percent to the disabled, and five percent to Indigenous tribes.
In 2018, when the scheme was terminat, it restricted 56% of government employment under various quotas.
The protesting students fear that the quota shrinks the number of government jobs open for all, hurting aspirants who want them filled on the basis of merit.
