By Jesmin Papri and Ahammad Foyez
Bangladesh’s top court on Sunday cut back a divisive quota system for government jobs that ignited days of nationwide unrest in which scores of people have been killed.
But the situation in the South Asian country of 170 million people remained extremely tense, with a heavy military presence in the streets, a curfew extended indefinitely and at least 12 more deaths bringing the week’s total to 136.
Law Minister Anisul Haq told reporters that an order restricting people to their homes for all but two hours a day would be liftced “when the law and order situation returns to normal.”
Clashes between demonstrators and law enforcers raged in the Jatrabari and Badda neighborhoods of Dhaka, though city streets were otherwise empty. Hundreds of security personnel and military combat vehicles were deployed outside the Supreme Court complex.
Earlier in the day,Shah Monjurul Hoque,a lawyer representing two students who challenged the quota system,said the Supreme Court had given “a final solution” when it provided a new formula for filling government jobs.
The court’s Appellate Division directed 93% of government jobs to be awarded based on merit, 5% allocated to relatives of freedom fighters, 1% to minority ethnic groups, and 1% to individuals with disabilities and transgender people.
Previously 56% of government jobs were set aside under the quota system, including 30% for relatives of veterans who fought in the 1971 independence war, and 10% for women.
A High Court decision in June reinstating those quotas triggered student demonstrations that snowballed into the worstpolitical violencein Bangladesh in more than a decade, leading to the imposition of a curfew and deployment of the military late on Friday.
The ruling apparently did not appease a segment of protesters who are now demanding justice for people killed in the unrest.
A statement signed by 59 self-described coordinators of the student movement – issued after the verdict and seen by BenarNews – called for protests to continue. It called the verdict “unclear” and demanded parliament convene within one week to commit quota reform to law.
It said the government could not avoid responsibility for more than 100 deaths, and demanded an investigation, as well as compensation for the families of the dead and for injured people.
Dhaka Medical College and Hospital received five dead bodies on Sunday, and two people injured in clashes earlier in the week died there, according to Bacchu Mia, the officer in charge of a police post at the facility.
Five other people died in the centraldistrict of Narsingdi, a hospital spokesman said.
Meanwhile,Nahid Islam, a protest leader from University of Dhaka, told the BBC from a hospital bed in Dhaka that he had been arrested and tortured by “government agents.” He said his shoulders and left leg were injured as a result.
“They picked me up and put me in a microbus, blindfolded me with three layers of cloth, handcuffed me, then they took me to a house and they asked many questions and they tortured me. At one point I fell unconscious,” the BBC quoted him as saying.
The demonstrations have morphed into wider protests that have highlighted discontent with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s rule. Critics say she has steadily clamped down on dissenting voices andconsolidated powerover the past 15 years.
At the same time, Bangladesh has failed to provide adequate job opportunities for its 170 million people, especially the young. Nearly 40% of 15 to 24-year-olds in Bangladesh – about 12.2 million people – are neither students nor employed, according to official data.
With the curfew indefinitely extended, hardship has deepened for Bangladeshis confined to their homes with no internet and mobile communications, no public transportation and no access to their bank accounts. Delivery of food and other essentials has been disrupted.
Shops were packed during the hours when the curfew was lifted.
"We opened the shop in the late morning when there were no customers. But as the curfew eased, people swarmed in like bees. We just had a couple of very busy hours,” Tanvir Hasan, a grocer in Dhaka, told Reuters.
Both the United States and Germany issued statements this weekend urging their nationals not to travel to Bangladesh due to the ongoing violence, curfew and communications shut down.
“The situation is extremely volatile and unpredictable,” said a statement issued Sunday bythe U.S. Embassy in Dhaka.
“Travel to Bangladesh is currently not recommended,” a German foreign ministry statement said. “Further restrictions and worsening of the situation are to be expected.”
