Bangladesh protests: Top court scraps most job quotas after violent unrest

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has scrapped most of the government recruitment quotas, sparking violent clashes across the country that left more than 100 people dead.

A third of public sector jobs were reserved for relatives of veterans of the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

But now the court has ruled that just 5 percent of the positions can be reserved for relatives of veterans.

Law Minister Anisul Haq said he welcomed the verdict. It was unclear how protesters would respond, with at least one student leader calling for the demonstrations to continue.

Shah Manjrul Haq, lawyer for the petitioners seeking to uphold the quota, called the Supreme Court’s verdict “historic” and called for calm.

“Let’s all accept this verdict,” he told a news conference, adding that “the students should go home” and urging “third parties” not to “throw fish into the mire” of the conflict.

But AFP reported a spokesman for one of the student groups as saying the protests would continue.

“We welcome the Supreme Court’s ruling,” a spokesman for the Students Against Discrimination movement told AFP, “but we will not stop protesting until the government issues an order that reflects our demands.”

Some protest leaders have reportedly been arrested, with some calling for justice for those killed in the clashes.

The streets of the capital Dhaka are deserted as a curfew enters its second day, but sporadic clashes continue after the Supreme Court ruling.

About 115 people are said to have been killed, but local media have put the death toll at much higher, with at least 50 killed on Friday alone.

A Supreme Court ruling mandated that 93 percent of public sector jobs should be filled on the basis of merit, with 5 percent reserved for the families of Revolutionary War veterans.

The remaining 2% is reserved for ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

The quota system, which was abolished in 2018 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, was reinstated by a lower court last month, sparking protests.

The violence and killings pose a serious challenge to the authority of Hasina, who has been in power since 2009.

Protest coordinators say police and the student wing of the ruling Awami League party, known as the Bangladesh Chhatra League, are using brutal force against peaceful demonstrators, a charge the government denies.

Authorities have detained many people, and the family of Nahid Islam, one of the quota reform movement’s coordinators, claims that police left him blindfolded on the streets of Dhaka in the middle of the night.

His father, Badrul Islam, told BBC Bangladesh that his son is now in hospital and had been tortured “both mentally and physically”.

Police have not commented.

The unrest also led to the setting on fire government buildings, police checkpoints and the capital’s metro system, which the interior minister said was not functioning. Burnt carriages were visible in most parts of Dhaka.

Clashes have been reported in other parts of the country and authorities are yet to capture any of the 800 inmates who escaped from a prison near Dhaka.

UK-based analyst Kamal Ahmed told the BBC that the reintroduced quota system had been misused by the ruling Awami League party.

“The quota system is nothing but a ploy by the ruling Awami League to reward its supporters and establish the party’s influence in future governments,” he said.

He said the protests that followed were of “unprecedented intensity” and had expanded into a “much broader people’s movement” fuelled by allegations of corruption, a lack of accountability and the rising cost of living.

But speaking on the BBC’s Newshour programme, Law Minister Anisul Haq denied that the quota system benefited the Awami League.

“In fact, I would say 95 per cent of the ruling party lawmakers were freedom fighters or supporters of freedom fighters. It is only natural that they should benefit,” he said.

He also denied allegations that Hasina was losing control over Bangladesh.

“In that case, we will see a revolt by the general public in the country, who are actually supporting the government in this turmoil and are saying that the government should act to end the violence,” he said.

He blamed the country’s opposition, rather than protesting students, for the widespread violence.

Bangladesh is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, but that growth is not translating into jobs for university graduates.

It is estimated that around 18 million young Bangladeshis are looking for work, with university graduates more likely to be unemployed than their less educated peers.

Tensions in Bangladesh have also led to demonstrations in front of the White House in Washington, mainly attended by Bangladeshi students studying in the country.

Demonstrations took place in New York’s Times Square, with participants holding banners calling for justice for students killed in Bangladesh in recent days.

Unrest also broke out in East London on Thursday night, with pro-government and anti-government protesters clashing.

The police In Whitechapel, which has a large Bangladeshi population, two large groups were spotted fighting among hundreds of protesters.

Objects were then thrown at police, injuring two people and damaging a vehicle.