More than 500 individuals, including some opposition leaders, have been detained in Dhaka amid violent protests that have gripped Bangladesh, resulting in 163 fatalities since students began demonstrating against civil service hiring rules, according to police on Monday.
The protests, initially sparked by grievances over politicized admission quotas for coveted government jobs, have escalated into some of the most severe unrest during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration.
Authorities have imposed a curfew, and soldiers are patrolling cities across the South Asian nation.
Additionally, a nationwide internet blackout since Thursday has significantly limited the flow of information to the outside world.
“At least 532 people have been arrested over the violence” since the unrest began, Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP.
“They include some BNP leaders,” he added, referring to the opposition Bangladesh National Party.
On Sunday, Bangladesh’s top court reduced the hiring quotas for specific groups for government jobs, which are seen as secure and desirable positions.
However, this decision did not appease university student leaders.
Their protests against the quota scheme have ignited nationwide clashes, resulting in 163 deaths, including several police officers, according to an AFP count based on police and hospital reports.
A spokesman for Students Against Discrimination, the main group behind the protests, stated, “We won’t call off our protests until the government issues an order reflecting our demands.”
Ali Riaz, a politics professor and leading expert on Bangladesh at Illinois State University, described the violence as “the worst massacre by any regime since independence.”
He told AFP, “The atrocities committed in the past days show that the regime is entirely dependent on brute force and has no regard for the lives of the people.
These indiscriminate killings cannot be washed by a court ruling or a government announcement.”
Diplomatic Concerns
Diplomats in Dhaka have questioned the Bangladeshi authorities’ deadly response to the protests.
During a briefing by Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud on Sunday, he presented a video focusing on the damage caused by protesters.
However, US ambassador Peter Haas criticized the presentation for being one-sided, saying, “I am surprised you did not show the footage of police firing at unarmed protesters.”
A US embassy official confirmed the ambassador’s remarks.
Furthermore, Mahmud did not address a question from a United Nations representative regarding the alleged use of UN-marked armored personnel carriers and helicopters to suppress the protests
Bangladesh, a significant contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, has UN-marked equipment in its military inventories.
Government officials have consistently blamed the protesters and opposition for the violence.
Dhaka police spokesman Hossain reported that at least three policemen had been killed in the capital, with about 1,000 injured, including at least 60 critically.
The detainees include BNP leaders Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, and former national football captain Aminul Huq, along with Mia Golam Parwar, the general secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party.
The Controversial “Freedom Fighter” Quota
With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh unemployed, according to government figures, the reintroduction of the quota scheme has deeply upset graduates facing a severe job crisis.
The Supreme Court decision reduced the number of reserved jobs from 56 percent to seven percent, most of which are still allocated to the children and grandchildren of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
While this decision significantly cut the contentious “freedom fighter” quota, with 93 percent of jobs now awarded on merit, it did not meet the protesters’ demands to eliminate the quota entirely.
Critics argue that the quota is used to fill public jobs with loyalists to Hasina’s ruling Awami League.
Opponents also accuse her government of manipulating the judiciary to its advantage.
Prime Minister Hasina, 76, has led the country since 2009 and secured her fourth consecutive term in January after an election without genuine opposition.
Rights groups have accused her government of misusing state institutions to maintain power and suppress dissent, including through extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.
This month, Hasina further inflamed tensions by comparing the protesters to Bangladeshis who collaborated with Pakistan during the country’s independence war.
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