Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Sunday quashed a court order allowing large public employment quotas reserved for children of war veterans in the country, a privilege that sparked mass student protests and a wave of violence that left more than 100 dead. In a special hearing held in a rush due to the street violence, the Supreme Court decided to annul the decision of the Dhaka High Court issued last month, which allowed the government to award a third of the jobs to the descendants of the fighters of the war of independence of Pakistan (1971).
The country’s highest court has ordered a complete restructuring of the controversial quotas for public service jobs, lowering them from 30% to 5% for children of combatants, and leaving 2% for ethnic minorities and people with disabilities, lawyer Shah Monjurul Haque, a representative of the students who have led protests against the law, told reporters. The decision means that 93% of government jobs will be assigned on merit. This was the main demand of the students who took to the streets two weeks ago in a movement that turned violent a few days ago with the repression of the security forces and has left around 120 dead, according to a report prepared by EFE.
In this regard, “the court urged the students to return to classes and also asked the guardians to tell their children to return,” the lawyer added. The same request was also made by the Attorney General upon leaving the court. “Since all the demands of the students have been met with this verdict, they should return to classes,” Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters. “I hope that after today’s verdict, normality will return and people with ulterior motives will stop instigating people,” Amin Uddin said of the acts of violence and arson in recent days. “I will ask the government to find out the perpetrators of the violence and take strict measures against them,” he warned.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government scrapped the quota system in 2018, also in the wake of mass protests, but a lower court reinstated it last month, sparking the current protests and subsequent government crackdown. Critics of the move also say it benefits supporters of Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, regarded as the founder of modern Bangladesh and a key figure in the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Internet and text messaging services in Bangladesh have been suspended since Thursday, cutting off the nation of nearly 170 million people as security forces crack down on protesters who defied a ban on public gatherings. Soldiers have patrolled the streets of Dhaka, the capital, where army checkpoints have been set up, after the government ordered a curfew late on Friday. Streets near the Supreme Court were quiet immediately after the court ruling.
The protests — the largest since Hasina was re-elected this year for a fourth consecutive term — have been fueled by high unemployment among young people, who make up nearly a fifth of the population. Nearly one in five Bangladeshis aged 15 to 24 is neither employed nor in education, according to official statistics for 2023. And university graduates — campuses have been the main focus of the protests — face higher unemployment rates than other educated young people, and compete each year for the few government jobs that are available.
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The high cost of living also sparked deadly protests last year, months after the country asked the International Monetary Fund for a $4.7 billion bailout because of its difficulties in paying for imported oil and gas due to its depleted monetary reserves.
Opposition party leaders, activists and students have been detained during the crackdown on protests, according to Tarique Rahman, the exiled acting chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Police arrested Nahid Islam, a top student coordinator, according to protesters, on Saturday and released him 24 hours later after he had been “tortured,” according to his father.
Universities and colleges have been closed since Wednesday. The US State Department on Saturday raised its travel warning for Bangladesh to level four, urging American citizens not to travel there.
A spokesman for the students, Abdullah Saleheen, said they would announce their reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision later in the day, once protest leaders meet.
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