A Bangladeshi student group leading demonstrations that have descended into deadly violence suspended protests for 48 hours on Monday. The group’s leader said they did not want reforms “at the cost of so much blood.”
The protests, which began against political quotas for entry into government jobs, turned into the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.
A curfew has been imposed across the South Asian country and soldiers are patrolling cities, while a nationwide internet blackout since Thursday has largely limited the flow of information to the outside world.
“We are postponing the shutdown protest for 48 hours,” Nahid Islam, a top leader of main protest organiser Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed.
He said he was being treated for injuries after he was beaten up by some people he accused of being secret police.
“We demand that the government lift the curfew during this period, restore the internet, and stop targeting student protesters.”
On Sunday, the Supreme Court reduced the number of jobs reserved for specific groups, including descendants of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
“We started this movement for quota reform,” Islam said.
“But we did not want quota reform at the cost of so much bloodshed, so many killings, so much loss of life and property.”
At least 163 people have been killed in the clashes, including several police officers, according to an AFP count of casualties provided by police and hospitals.
Sporadic violence continued on Monday and four people were brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with gunshot wounds, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Government officials have repeatedly blamed protesters and the opposition for the unrest.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP that “at least 532” people had been arrested in the capital since the protests began, including some leaders of the opposition Bangladesh National Party.
Ali Riaz, a professor of politics at Illinois State University and a leading Bangladesh expert, described the violence as “the worst genocide perpetrated by any regime since independence”.
“The atrocities committed in the past days show that the regime completely relies on brute force and has no regard for people’s lives,” he told AFP.
“These indiscriminate killings cannot be washed away by any court verdict or government announcement.”
Diplomatic questions
Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus “urged world leaders and the United Nations to do everything within their power to end the violence.”
“Killings that have already happened must be investigated,” the 83-year-old said in a statement, his first public comments since the unrest began.
The respected economist is credited with lifting millions out of poverty through his pioneering microfinance bank, but has incurred the enmity of Hasina, who has accused him of “sucking the blood” of the poor.
“Bangladesh is caught in a crisis that is getting worse with each passing day,” Yunus said. “The victims include high school students.”
Diplomats in Dhaka questioned the deadly response of Bangladeshi authorities to the protests.
Foreign Minister Hassan Mahmoud summoned ambassadors on Sunday and showed them a 15-minute video, which sources said focused on damage caused by protesters.
According to a senior diplomatic official, US Ambassador Peter Haass told Mahmood that he was presenting a one-sided version of events.
The source quoted Haas as saying to the minister, “I’m surprised you didn’t show the footage of the police firing on unarmed protesters.”
A US embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the ambassador’s remarks.
The diplomatic source said Mahmoud did not answer the UN representative’s question about the alleged use of UN-marked armoured personnel carriers and helicopters to suppress the protests.
Bangladesh is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping missions around the world – deriving significant revenue from its efforts – and also has UN-marked equipment in its military stockpile.
‘Freedom Fighter’ Quota
According to government data, nearly 18 million youth are unemployed in Bangladesh, with the re-introduction of the quota scheme leading to deep frustration among graduates who are facing a severe employment crisis.
The Supreme Court decision reduced the number of reserved jobs from 56 per cent to seven per cent, most of which will be reserved for the children and grandchildren of “freedom fighters” of the 1971 war.
Though 93 per cent of jobs would be given on the basis of merit, the decision did not meet the protesters’ demand to abolish the “freedom fighter” category altogether.
Critics say the quota is used to give place to public jobs to loyalists of Hasina’s ruling Awami League.
Opponents accuse his government of bending the judiciary to its will.
Hasina, 76, has been ruling the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive term in January after voting without any real opposition.
Human rights groups have also accused his government of abusing state institutions to consolidate its grip on power and suppress dissent, including through extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
