Why are Bangladeshi students protesting?

Arafatul Islam

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivered a televised address Wednesday evening decrying the deadly violence during protests that were sparked by mounting frustration over government job quotas. Her address came after rival student groups and police clashed in cities around Bangladesh on Tuesday. Three people were killed in the southern port city of Chattogram, two in the capital, Dhaka, and one in the northern district of Rangpur, according to police.

Hasina said there would be a judicial probe, and those responsible for the deaths would be brought to justice. "Some precious lives have been lost unnecessarily," she said. "I condemn every killing." On Thursday, six more people died during protests between students, police and ruling party activists in Dhaka, local media said.

Bangladeshi authorities have instructed high schools, universities, and Islamic seminaries around the country to close indefinitely. Paramilitary units were also dispatched to keep order in several cities. Authorities on Thursday also suspended mobile internet services. Nusrat Tabassum, a quota protester in Dhaka, said she was attacked twice in two days by activists from the Chhatra League, the student wing of Hasina's ruling party, the Awami League.

"We were doing peaceful demonstrations to reform the quota system. It's not a political movement. Why did the activists of the ruling party student wing attack us?" she told DW. Tanveer Hasan Saikat, general secretary of the Dhaka University (DU) Chhatra League, told DW that student wings of Bangladesh's political opposition parties have been taking advantage of discontent over the job quota issue and are "using students' emotions as a political weapon."

The student groups are on opposing sides of a high court decision earlier this month order to reinstate quotas for government jobs. The quota system had been abolished in 2018 following massive student protests. Under the quota system, more than half of civil service jobs are reserved for specific groups. For example, 30% of government jobs are reserved for family members of veterans who fought in the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

They are commonly called "freedom fighters" in Bangladesh. Other groups, like women and the disabled, are allotted a smaller percentage. Several protesters calling for the quota system to be reformed told DW that reinstatement of the job quotas in their previous form would block off the prestigious civil service jobs that many meritorious students aim for.

"Most of the students want to have a government job in Bangladesh. Social security is one of the reasons behind this," Lamia Rahman Supti, a Dhaka University student who has been participating in the protests, told DW.

She said she didn't the protesters do not see the logic in reserving government jobs for the grandchildren of people who fought in the liberation war more than 50 years ago.

Those against the quotas in the previous form argue the system is discriminatory and should be reformed to prioritize a merit-based system. Supti said reserving 56% of government jobs for certain groups, as is stipulated under the former quota system, "can't be a healthy practice."

"Ordinary students feel excluded at first glance, nothing can be more unfair than this," she said. "It should be reduced to a tolerable limit, which is 5% in our opinion. It will be good for all of us," she added.

Some 3,000 such government jobs were open to nearly 340,000 graduates last year, according to government data. Nasiruddin Yousuff Bachchu, a well-known freedom fighter and cultural personality based in Dhaka, also thinks the quota system should be reformed, but he opposes reducing it to 5%, which the quota reform protesters demand.

''The quota system should be reduced to 20% from the current 56%. The 10% quota we have for women should be increased to 15% as we still need to see more women in government jobs. Also, we need to keep quotas for ethnic minorities, persons with physical disabilities, and marginalized communities," he told DW.

He said that in recent years, the Hasina government has been providing monthly allowances to freedom fighters, which has allowed many of their family members to get better educations, and therefore, more grandchildren of freedom fighters are eligible for government jobs than before. Bachchu said that violence was not the way to solve disagreements over the quota system.

''I think dialogue should be initiated between the government and other groups to solve the quota reform issue. The protests shouldn't continue this way for a long time,'' he added.

Although the Supreme Court said last week the new ruling on quotas would be temporarily paused, protesters have promised to continue until the government removes the quotas once and for all. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Hasina asked the protesters to have faith in the country's Supreme Court, which is due to issue a new decision on the quota system next month. "I am requesting all to wait with patience until the verdict is delivered," she said.

"I believe our students will get justice from the apex court. They will not be disappointed," she added. Anti-quota protesters were outraged after they claimed Hasina indirectly referred to them as "Razakars" in a press conference Sunday. The term is considered offensive, and refers to those who betrayed Bangladesh in the 1971 War of Independence by collaborating with Pakistan.

"This remark from the prime minister created discontent among many demonstrators. Ordinary students feel offended. Does it mean that apart from the grandchildren of freedom fighters, everyone else are Razakars? That is not possible," said protester Tabassum.

Denouncing the violence, Asif Nazrul, a law professor at Dhaka University, told DW that the government can solve the issue amicably. "Our country's employment situation is very poor, and the economic situation is not good. Students see the reinstatement of the job quotas in such a situation as an attack on their livelihood," he said.

"If the government wants, it can revise the circular about the quota system and solve the issue immediately. The court has left the option to change the ratio or percentage of the quotas open."