Schools and universities across Bangladesh have been shut until further notice after six people were killed in protests over quotas in government jobs.University students have been holding rallies for several days against the system of providing reservations in public sector jobs for the children of war heroes, who fought for the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971.Some jobs are also reserved for women, ethnic minorities and the disabled.A third of posts are kept for the children of those categorised as war heroes.
Police didn’t intervene to save the ordinary students,” Abdullah Salehin Ayoun, one of the co-ordinators of the anti-quota movement, told the BBC.Government jobs are highly coveted in Bangladesh because they pay well.
They are the ones who initiated the violence,” Law Minister Anisul Huq told the BBC.Bangladesh’s top court suspended the current system last week, but protests are expected to continue until it is permanently removed.“The case has been listed for hearing on 7 August.
Students have been given an opportunity to present their argument in the court,” Mr Huq said.In a late-night operation on Tuesday, police raided the headquarters of the BNP, the main opposition party, in Dhaka, following the violent clashes.Senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the raid was nothing but a drama and it was a message for the students to return home.The protests have been going on for days with the students blocking roads and highways in Dhaka and other major cities, bringing traffic to a halt.Student leaders said they were angered by recent comments of Ms Hasina who, they say, described those opposed to the job quotas as razakar – a term used for those who allegedly collaborated with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war.Several student leaders said Ms Hasina had insulted them by comparing them to razakar.
He said the trouble began after anti-quota students intimidated residents of a hall in Dhaka.“If there’s chaos on the university campuses, there’s no benefit for the government.
We want peace to be maintained,” Mr Arafat told the BBC.UN Secretary General António Guterres called on the government to “protect the demonstrators against any form of threat or violence”, according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.The students have vowed to continue their protests until their demands are met.The government has strengthened security by deploying the paramilitary, Border Guards Bangladesh, in five main cities, including Dhaka and Chittagong.
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