What lies behind 'killing spree' in Bangladesh triggered by PM Hasina's reservation policy

By Nava Thakuria* 
After nearly two hundred people, mainly students, were killed by the government armed forces allegedly in liaison with the ruling party affiliates in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has blamed the opposition political leaders for the violence that erupted across the nation. She argued that the government in Dhaka was compelled to impose a strict curfew with an aim to maintain the law and order situation and it will be lifted as the situation improves.
Meanwhile, the poverty-stricken country’s lone Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus made a clarion call to the international community, including the United Nations, to halt the murder of agitating Bangladeshi nationals across Bangladesh.
“The nationwide killing spree of Bangladeshi students and other citizens must be prevented. I urge the media outlets across the globe to come forward reporting the ground reality so that many precious lives can be saved,” said Prof Yunus, a man of international fame for his revolutionary banking and social business that enhances not only Bangladesh but many nations, but faces personal harassments from PM Hasina with a number of legal charges.
Speaking to this writer from Paris, the visiting octogenarian banker turned social thinker also insisted on quality television debates and pragmatic editorials over the turmoil faced by his beloved country of 170 population, where even the ‘high school students become the victims’ as they joined the anti-quota movement that began on 1 July following a court order reinstating the reservation facility in all government jobs for the dependents of war veterans.
“Engulfed in a serious crisis, Bangladesh witnesses millions of students and others protesting nationals have been attacked by the police and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel leading to more than 200 deaths and 700 injuries, some of whom remain in serious health conditions,” exclaimed Prof Yunus (photo), asserting that ‘there must be investigations into the killings that have taken place already’.

Though it began with a peaceful protest demonstration on the prestigious Dhaka University campus demanding the reservation quota for the dependents of freedom fighters’ families (who fought against the brutal Pakistani forces) to be abolished, it spread quickly to other university campuses and cities to emerge as a national outrage against the Awami League party-led government in Dhaka. 

The general population, who are seemingly unhappy with the Hasina regime that achieved the fourth consecutive victory on 7 January 2024 national elections with no opposition candidates on the field, joined the movement to make it a major challenge to Hasina.

The ruling party leaders, including some ministers in Hasina’s cabinet, alleged that the anti-quota movement was hijacked by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party along with radicalized Jamaat-e-Islami workers to topple the government. They claimed that the so-called agitators with the endorsement of BNP leaders indulged in violent activities. 

BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman, who is living in exile for years, was also accused of hatching a conspiracy against the government. The ruling party leaders also denied the allegation that the quota facility had benefited the loyalists of Hasina alone.

The government imposed a nationwide curfew with the shoot at sight order on 20 July and deployed military personnel to support the police and civilian authorities. The agitation turned violent following the aggression shown by the members of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Juba League (student and youth wing of ruling Awami League) on the agitators. 

Lately the Supreme Court restricted the space for reservation to freedom fighters’ families from 30 to 5 percent. But the apex court did not scrap the reservation policy and the students vowed to continue their movement until the particular quota gets abolished.
The protesting student leaders maintained their additional demands to release all detained leaders, repeal the curfew and reopen the educational institutions across the country. Moreover, they raised voices for the accountability to be fixed on concerned ministers and officers for the brutal crackdown that resulted in the deaths of scores of agitators. 
Various governments, including the United States, advised their citizens to avoid travelling to Bangladesh due to the civil unrest for many days. Indian government also advised the citizens not to visit violence-hit Bangladesh immediately. 

Moreover, the high commission in Dhaka asked around 15,000 Indian nationals in Bangladesh to avoid non-essential travelling. The assistant high commissions in Chittagong, Sylhet and Khulna facilitated many Indians along with the students to return home by air or through Akhurah border point in Tripura, Dawki check gate in Meghalaya and Benapole point in West Bengal. Thousands of students belonging to various parts of India as well as Bhutan and Nepal had left the violence-ridden country.
Prof Yunus called on world leaders to do everything within their powers to end the violence against those who are exercising their rights to protest. The internet and telephone services were thoroughly restricted and so it was unlikely that his fellow citizens could hear the appeal or take their own initiatives. He urged the people of goodwill around the world to add their voices to the call to end this carnage, so that the natives can go back to their mission to build a self-reliant, democratic and peaceful Bangladesh.
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*Senior journalist based in Guwahati