Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government declared a national shutdown Saturday and mobilized the military, police forces as the violence escalated to death of over 75 people across Bangladesh. Imposed late on Friday night till the early Sunday morning, authorities in the South Asian nation are expected to revisit the situation.
Broadband and mobile internet have been snapped across the nation since Thursday. One local from outside Dhaka told Anadolu over the phone, “The situation in the capital is highly volatile and tense with intermittent reports of clashes between protesters and security forces.” The government appears not in control of the situation, said the local who wished to remain anonymous. More than 2,000 people have been injured in the fighting across the country.
This week, mass protests against the 56% quota system in public jobs have been soaring, and the government of the South Asian nation closed all educational institutions across Bangladesh. However, students refused to budge from college and university campuses.
Some 30% of the 56% quota in public jobs have been reserved for sons and grandsons of those who participated in Bangladesh’s war of liberation in 1971. The government is likely to file an appeal in the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking a reduction in the quota to 20 percent.
At least 30 people died on Friday in clashes when protesters also broke inside a jail and released dozens of prisoners in Narsingdi district in central Bangladesh, just outside of the capital Dhaka. Amnesty International said the rising death toll was a “shocking indictment of the absolute intolerance shown by the Bangladeshi authorities to protest and dissent.”
The unlawful force used against protesters shows a callous disregard for the right to life and an abject failure by law enforcement officials to uphold their obligations under domestic and international human rights law,” the rights group said in a statement.
The flow of information from Bangladesh has been scant, given that there is no internet. However, many Bangladeshi expats complained that they could not contact their families due to the internet ban.
