Bangladesh in Chaos: The ongoing student protests against reservation in government jobs in Bangladesh (Bangladesh Job Quota Protest) are becoming more violent. Amidst the protests, the government has announced a nationwide curfew (Bangladesh Curfew). The police have failed to stop the unrest in the country, after which the government announced the imposition of curfew and deployment of military forces on Friday. Deadly clashes have been going on in the country for the last several days, after which the Sheikh Hasina government of Bangladesh has ordered the deployment of military forces to maintain law and order.
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105 deaths so far in Bangladesh
About 105 people have died in violent clashes between police and protesters in Bangladesh this week. These student protests have become a big challenge for Sheikh Hasina during her 15-year tenure.
Sheikh Hasina’s press secretary Naimul Islam Khan told AFP, “The government has decided to impose curfew and deploy the army to assist the authorities.” He said that the curfew will be implemented with immediate effect.
Government is imposing curfew in Bangladesh
Police in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka have taken the tough step of banning all public gatherings for the first day in an attempt to prevent violence amid protests. Police Chief Habibur Rahman told AFP, “We have banned all rallies, processions and public gatherings in Dhaka today.” He said the move was necessary to ensure “public safety”. However, despite the internet being shut down to thwart the rallies, clashes between police and protesters are showing no signs of stopping.
Demand for resignation of Sheikh Hasina
A protester named Sarwar Tushar, who joined the protest march in Dhaka, suffered minor injuries in police action. Still, he says that ‘our protest will continue.’ He is demanding the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.
He says that the government is responsible for the deaths. Meanwhile, the police say that the protesting students attacked a prison in Narsingdi district of central Bangladesh and set it on fire. Before this, they freed the prisoners from the jail.
Why are students protesting?
Under the current reservation system, 56 percent of government jobs are reserved in Bangladesh, out of which 30 percent are reserved for the descendants of freedom fighters of the 1971 Liberation War, 10 percent for backward administrative districts, 10 percent for women, 5 percent for ethnic minority groups and 1 percent for the disabled.
But the students here are against the reservation given to the descendants of freedom fighters. According to the data, every year 3 thousand government jobs are released in the country, for which the number of applicants is close to 4 lakh. In which 30 percent reservation goes to them. The students are very angry about this and they are protesting.
