Bangladesh | Justice downgrades job quotas that sparked violence

(Dhaka) The main student group that launched the protests in Bangladesh on Sunday said it would continue the movement to denounce recruitment quotas in the civil service despite the relaxation of the system announced by the Supreme Court.

Bangladesh’s courts on Sunday scaled back a controversial civil service recruitment quota system, but stopped short of abolishing it, after its reintroduction in June sparked nationwide clashes that left 151 people dead.

What began as a protest against recruitment quotas for coveted government jobs, accused of favouring those close to the government, led this week to the worst violence under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power for 15 years.

“We will not stop our protests until the government makes a decision that takes our demands into account,” a spokesperson for the Students Against Discrimination association told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The demonstrations, which have been taking place almost daily since the beginning of July, initially had as their sole demand a reform of recruitment rules in the civil service.

But with the police’s response hardening, with live ammunition fired on Saturday in the capital Dhaka, Mr.^me Hasina, who is being demanded by tens of thousands of young Bangladeshis.

Soldiers patrol several cities in Bangladesh after riot police failed to restore order, while a nationwide internet shutdown since Thursday has severely limited the flow of information to the outside world.

The Supreme Court was due to rule in August on the legality of the recently reintroduced program that reserves more than half of government jobs for selected candidates, but it moved up its verdict as violence between students and police intensified.

It ruled as “illegal” a lower court’s June order reintroducing the public sector hiring quota system, Bangladesh Attorney General A. M. Amin Uddin told AFP.

“Go back to class”

Shah Monjurul Hoque, a lawyer involved in the case, told AFP that the court had also asked the protesting students “to return to class” after delivering its verdict.

In its decision, the Court significantly reduced the number of reserved positions, which fell from 56% to 7% of all positions.

It reserves 5% of all government jobs for the children of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, down from 30% previously.

Additionally, 1% of positions are reserved for tribal communities and 1% for people with disabilities or identifying as a third gender under Bangladeshi law.

The remaining 93% of positions will now be awarded on merit, the court ruled.

The category of “freedom fighters”, in particular, has sparked discontent among young graduates, with critics saying it is being used to award government jobs to loyalists of the ruling Awami League party.

M^me Hasina, whose government is accused by her opponents of bending the judiciary, had already suggested earlier this week that the court would rule in favour of the students’ demands.

The 76-year-old prime minister has led the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January in a vote without any real opposition.

“Resignation of the government”

“This is no longer about students’ rights,” Hasibul Sheikh, 24, a business owner, told AFP at the scene of a protest in the capital Dhaka on Saturday despite a nationwide curfew.

“Our demand is for one thing only, namely the resignation of the government.”

The government of M^me Hasina is accused by human rights activists of misusing state institutions to entrench her grip and stamp out dissent, particularly through the extrajudicial killing of opponents.

The Bangladeshi prime minister was due to leave the country on Sunday for a diplomatic tour of Spain and Brazil, but she cancelled her plans due to the ongoing violence.

Curfew maintained

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

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

In addition to the burning of government buildings and police stations by protesters, arson attacks have rendered Dhaka’s metropolitan rail network inoperable, he said.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday advised Americans against traveling to Bangladesh and said it would begin repatriating some diplomats and their families.