Bangladesh | Students demand resignation of PM

(Dhaka) Bangladeshi students have decided to continue their protests, which have left 155 dead, now demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, despite the easing on Sunday of a contested system of access to public jobs.

The Supreme Court has in fact revised downwards the quotas for recruitment in the civil service, without however abolishing them, after their reintroduction in June triggered this vast movement of protests which gave rise this week to the worst violence in Bangladesh since M^me Hasina came to power 15 years ago.

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

The organizers of these gatherings, which have been taking place almost daily since the beginning of July, initially had only one demand: a revision of the rules governing the filling of public sector jobs.

But with the hardening of the reaction of the security forces, who fired live ammunition on Saturday in the capital Dhaka, it is now the end of the mandate of the head of government that tens of thousands of young Bangladeshis are demanding.

Relaxation of rules

Soldiers are patrolling several cities and a nationwide internet shutdown has severely limited the flow of information to the outside world since Thursday.

The Supreme Court was originally scheduled to rule in August on the legality of the system reinstated last month by a lower court that reserves more than half of public sector jobs for selected candidates.

But she brought forward the date of her judgment following the intensification of violence between students and police, deeming on Sunday the reintroduction of these hiring quotas “illegal”, Bangladesh’s attorney general, AM Amin Uddin, told AFP.

Shah Monjurul Hoque, a lawyer involved in the case, told AFP that the Supreme Court had also asked the protesting students to “return to class”.

In their decision, the judges significantly reduced the number of positions thus reserved, from 56% to 7% of the total.

Now, only 5% of all government jobs are automatically given to the children of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, compared to 30% previously.

Additionally, 1% is reserved for tribal communities and 1% for people with disabilities or non-binary people.

The remaining 93% will now be awarded on merit, the judges ruled.

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 many saying it is being used to award civil service positions to people loyal to the ruling Awami League.

“The resignation of the government”

Now, “our demands are for one thing, which is the resignation of the government,” Hasibul Sheikh, a 24-year-old business owner, told AFP at a protest in Dhaka on Saturday despite a nationwide curfew.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and her party won its fourth consecutive parliamentary election in January in a relatively uncontested election.

His government is accused by human rights activists of abusing state institutions to entrench its grip and stamp out dissent, particularly through the extrajudicial killing of opponents.

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

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

Bangladeshi Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP that the curfew imposed on Saturday would remain in place “until the situation improves”, with government buildings and police stations set on fire by protesters.

India and Nepal announced on Sunday that they were helping their citizens return home, while Germany, like the United States the day before, advised its nationals against travelling to Bangladesh.

“We must expect […] a deterioration of the situation” in this country, warned the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the end of the day.