Bangladesh: justice rules on job quotas at the origin of the violence

Bangladesh's courts are due to rule on Sunday on the civil service recruitment rules that triggered the protests. clashes à nationwide between students and law enforcement, causing 151 deaths since the start of the week.

What began as a protest against recruitment quotas for highly prized public jobs, accused of favoring those close to those in power, led this week to the worst violence under the mandate of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in power for 15 years.

Soldiers patrol several Bangladeshi cities after riot police fail to restore order, while a nationwide internet shutdown since Thursday has considerably limited the flow of information to the outside world.

The Supreme Court is due to meet on Sunday to make a decision on whether or not to abolish these quotas, reintroduced last month and which notably reserve 30% of positions for the children of veterans of the Bangladesh liberation war against Pakistan. This category is known to be close to those in power.

Many voices assure that the program benefits children from circles supporting Ms. Hasina, 76, who has led her country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote largely predicted in advance

Ms Hasina, whose government is accused by its opponents of bending the judiciary, suggested, at the start of the week, that the system the protesters oppose would be abolished.

But after the increasing repression of recent days and the increase in the number of deaths, it is not certain that a favorable decision will calm the anger of the population.

– “Resignation of the government” –

“It’s no longer about the rights of students,” Hasibul Sheikh, 24, owner of a company, at the scene of a demonstration organized on Saturday in the capital Dhaka despite the curfew established throughout the country.

“Our request concerns a single point , namely the resignation of the government.”

Military patrol in Dhaka, July 20, 2024 © AFP – Mahmud Zaman Ovi

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Ms. Hasina's government is accused by human rights defenders of misusing state institutions to establish its influence and eradicate dissent, in particular through the extrajudicial assassination of opponents.

As Bangladesh is unable to provide adequate employment opportunities for its 170 million people, the quota system is a major source of resentment among young graduates facing a serious crisis.

Ms. Hasina stoked tensions this month by comparing protesters to Bangladeshis who collaborated with Pakistan during the country's war of independence.

“Rather than “trying to respond to the protesters' grievances, the government's actions have worsened the situation”, noted to AFP Pierre Prakash, director of the Crisis Group for Asia.

Since Tuesday, at least 151 people, including several police officers, have been killed in clashes across the country, according to a count carried out by AFP using data from police and hospital sources.

Protesters against civil service quotas hold placards during a demonstration on the campus of Dhaka University, July 16, 2024 © AFP – MUNIR UZ ZAMAN

The Bangladeshi Prime Minister was due to leave the country on Sunday for a diplomatic tour of Spain and Brazil, but she canceled her plan due to the ongoing violence.

– Curfew maintained –

Police arrested several members of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the protests.

Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP that the curfew imposed on Saturday would remain in place “until the situation improves.”

In addition to protesters setting fire to government buildings and police stations, arson attacks have rendered Dhaka's metro rail network inoperable, he said.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka on April 23, 2024 © AFP – Munir Uz Zaman

“They are carrying out destructive activities targeting the government,” Khan said, accusing the BNP and the Islamist Jamaat party of stirring up violence.

The US State Department on Saturday advised Americans against traveling to Bangladesh and announced that he would begin repatriating some diplomats and their families.

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