UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 (IPS) – Scholar protests towards the Bangladesh authorities’s recruitment system have escalated into violent reprisals from the police and the scholar wing of the main celebration.
As we speak (Friday, July 19), violent clashes continued in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka and the northern metropolis of Longpuras, as college college students continued to protest towards the federal government’s civil service recruitment system. Agence France-Presse reported that the dying toll had reached 105.
As everyone knows, the quota system now reserves 56% of positions within the civil service for sure teams: 10% for ladies, 10% for folks from much less developed areas, 5% for indigenous folks, 1% for folks with disabilities, 30% for these Those that fought within the 1971 Struggle of Independence and their descendants.
In June, Bangladesh’s Excessive Courtroom dominated to reinstate measures to order jobs for independence fighters, which had been abolished by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2018.
College students and younger staff worry the system doesn’t reward advantage however favors members of the ruling Awami League celebration.
College students have since demanded reform of the quota system. On the identical time, the unemployment fee amongst younger individuals who neither work nor go to varsity is as excessive as 40%.
On July 14, Hasina urged that the protesters have been “razakars,” a controversial time period in Bangladesh as a result of it refers to individuals who supported Pakistan in the course of the 1971 warfare and have been traitors within the eyes of the Bangladeshi folks. Hasina’s feedback sparked outrage amongst college students, who denounced them at protests.
The escalation of violence started on July 15, when protesters have been attacked by members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), a pupil wing of the Awami League. There have been stories of closely armed BCL members indiscriminately attacking unarmed protesters, together with girls and younger college students.
Subsequently, the federal government has known as for the closure of all college campuses amid the stress. Police forces have been despatched in to quell the motion, utilizing rubber bullets and tear gasoline towards college students.
Protests and ensuing violence broke out throughout the nation, together with in Chittagong, Rangpur and Dhaka.
On Thursday, the federal government deployed its army, often known as the Speedy Motion Battalion (RAB). Since then, protests have killed at the very least 105 folks and injured greater than 25,000. This quantity could also be a lot larger.
Web and telephone communications have been shut down since July 18, first in some areas and now nationwide.
The web shutdown additionally meant that the web sites of some main information shops, similar to The Every day Star and Bangladesh, have been offline. Simply earlier than the shutdown, BCL’s official web site was hacked, displaying a message that learn “hacked by R3SISTANC3.”
There are additionally stories that the official web sites of the police and the Prime Minister’s Workplace have been additionally attacked by hackers, with messages similar to “Cease killing college students” and “That is now not a protest, however a warfare.”
Amid the protests, the federal government introduced Thursday it was keen to sit down down with protesters to debate their calls for for reform of the quota system.
Legislation Minister Anisul Haq mentioned discussions can be held so long as the scholar protesters agreed. Scholar protesters have to this point rejected the decision for motion, with one pupil telling the BBC on Thursday that “the federal government has killed so many individuals in in the future that we can not take part in any dialogue below the present circumstances.”
UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Walker Türk expressed concern about human rights violations and known as for an neutral investigation into the assault.
“The federal government ought to take vital measures to make sure the safety and security of scholars collaborating in peaceable protests and assure the precise to meeting and freedom of expression with out worry of assaults or different types of repression for his or her lives and bodily security,” he mentioned. “Bangladesh’s political leaders should work with the nation’s youth to search out options to present challenges and deal with the nation’s development and improvement. Dialogue is one of the best and solely manner ahead.
United Nations Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern concerning the violence and known as on “all events to train restraint”.
In a press release issued on Thursday, he known as on authorities to “examine all acts of violence, maintain perpetrators accountable and guarantee an atmosphere conducive to dialogue.”
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