The Bangladesh Supreme court has scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that had sparked violent and deadly clashes across the country that have killed more than 100 people.
A third of public sector jobs had been reserved for the relatives of veterans from the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.
The top court scaled back job quotas for veterans of the 1971 war of independence to 5 percent, with 93 percent of jobs to be allocated on merit.
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According to the court, the remaining 2 percent will be set aside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people.
Student leaders pledged to press on with demonstrations until key demands are met including the release of those jailed, and the resignation of officials responsible for the deadly crackdown.
Bangladesh continues to enforce a nationwide curfew to quash the student-led demonstrations with military personnel and police patrolling the largely deserted streets of the capital, Dhaka.
Attorney-General AM Amin Uddin vowed to punish those who instigated violence during the protests “and take strict action against them”.
The country’s authorities haven’t disclosed any official numbers of those killed and injured, but at least four local newspapers reported that more than 100 people have died.
The exiled acting chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party Tarique Rahman said many opposition party leaders, activists and student protesters have been arrested in the current crackdown.
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Police arrested Nahid Islam, a leading student coordinator, on Saturday, protesters say.
But the exact number of those held remains unclear.
GLOBAL TRACKER learned that the protests turned deadly last Tuesday, a day after students at Dhaka University began clashing with police.
Violence continued to escalate as police fired live rounds and tear gas and hurled smoke grenades to scatter stone-throwing protesters.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan says the curfew will continue “until the situation improves”.
Dozens of people have been killed and several thousand injured.
A nationwide internet blackout has drastically restricted the flow of information to the outside world.
Soldiers set up checkpoints on Saturday shortly after the government ordered a curfew to block the protests that sharply escalated last week.
The students are also demanding that Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Awami League secretary-general Obaidul Quader resign as they are seen as responsible for instigating the brutal crackdown against the protesters.
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In 2018, the quotas were deemed illegal and abolished. But that was overturned on June 5, with the country’s High Court reinstating a quota that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for children of “freedom fighters”. The Supreme Court is set to hear an appeal to the change on August 7.
The current unrest has been fuelled by the high rate of unemployment, with nearly a fifth of Bangladesh’s population out of work.
Protesters have demanded a merit-based system that is fair to all.
Source: Aljazeera and Others