UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 (IPS) – Scholar protests over the Bangladesh authorities’s recruitment system have escalated into violent retaliation from the police and the main celebration’s scholar wing.
In the present day (Friday, July 19), violent clashes continued to rock Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, and the northern metropolis of Rangpuras, the place college college students continued their protest over the federal government’s civil service recruitment system. AFP reports stories the demise toll reached 105.
The quota system, as it’s identified, now reserves 56 p.c of positions within the civil service to sure teams: 10 p.c to ladies, 10 p.c to these from underdeveloped districts, 5 p.c to indigenous peoples, 1 p.c to individuals with disabilities, and 30 p.c to those that fought within the 1971 conflict of independence, together with their descendants.
In June, Bangladesh’s Excessive Courtroom dominated to reinstate the measure to order jobs for indepdendence fighters, which had been beforehand abolished by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2018.
College students and younger staff raised considerations that this technique didn’t reward benefit however quite favored these affiliated with the Awami League, the ruling celebration.
Since then, college students have been demanding a reform to the quota system. This comes at a time when the unemployment price is at 40 p.c for youth who’re neither working nor in college.
On July 14, Hasina implied that the protestors have been “razakars,” a contentious time period in Bangladesh because it refers back to the individuals who supported Pakistan through the 1971 conflict, traitors within the eyes of the Bangladeshi individuals. The feedback from Hasina precipitated outrage amongst college students they usually decried them through the protests.
The escalation into violence started on July 15, when protestors have been attacked by members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the scholar wing of the Awami League. Reviews emerged of closely armed BCL members attacking indiscriminately in opposition to unarmed protestors, together with ladies and youthful college students.
The federal government consequently referred to as for all college campuses to close down amid the tensions. The police pressure was despatched in to suppress the motion, the place they’ve used rubber bullets and tear fuel in opposition to college students.
Protests and the ensuing violent clashes have damaged out all around the nation, together with Chittagong, Rangpur, and Dhaka.
On Thursday, the federal government deployed the navy, particularly the Speedy Motion Battalion (RAB). Since then, at the very least 105 deaths have been reported and over 25,000 individuals have been injured through the protests. This quantity might be a lot increased.
Since July 18, web and telephone communications have been shut down, first in choose areas and now throughout the nation.
The web shutdown has additionally meant that the web sites of some main information retailers, such because the Day by day Star and Bangladesh have gone offline. Simply previous to the shutdown, the BCL’s official web site was hacked with a message that reads “Hacked by THE R3SISTANC3.”
There are additionally stories that the official web sites of the police and the prime minister’s workplace have been additionally hacked with messages studying, “Cease killing college students” and “It’s not a protest anymore, it’s a conflict now.”
Amid the protests, the federal government announced on Thursday introduced that it could be prepared to take a seat down with protestors to debate their calls for for reform to the quota system.
Regulation minister Anisul Haq stated that discussions can be held every time the scholar protestors agreed. Scholar protestors have to this point denied this name to motion, with one scholar telling the BBC on Thursday, “The federal government has killed so many individuals in a day that we can not be part of any discussions within the present circumstances.”
UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed concern for the violation of human rights and has called for neutral investigations into the assaults.
“The federal government ought to take the required measures to make sure the safety and security of the scholars taking part in peaceable protests, and to ensure the proper to freedom of meeting and expression with out worry of assaults in opposition to their lives and bodily integrity, or different types of repression,” he stated. “Bangladesh’s political leaders should work with the nation’s younger inhabitants to search out options to the continued challenges and deal with the nation’s development and growth. Dialogue is one of the best and solely manner ahead.”
UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern in regards to the violence and referred to as for “restraint on all sides.”
In a press release issued on Thursday, he referred to as for authorities to “examine all acts of violence, maintain perpetrators to account, and guarantee a conducive surroundings for dialogue.”
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