The government has, in principle, agreed to reform the quota system in public services amid protests in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country that saw at least 26 killed in four days, including 19 on Thursday.
Referring to a protester鈥檚 call on the government to discuss their demands, law, justice, and parliamentary affairs minister Anisul Huq said on Thursday that they were ready to sit with protesters anytime.
鈥榃e will sit with the protesters whenever they agree, and, if they want, it may be today.鈥�
The law minister was聽 apparently referring to a Facebook post by Hasnat Abdullah, one of the coordinators of the protest, who said that the door of discussion was open alongside street protests.
Hasnat, however, removed his post from Facebook later and gave another post soon, saying that dialogue was impossible without ignoring blood.
Other organisers of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement also rejected the government鈥檚 proposal of holding a dialogue and suspending the street protests.
鈥楤y resorting to violence in a peaceful movement, the government has created an unprecedented situation. It is the government鈥檚 responsibility. The government did not keep the conditions for negotiations,鈥� Nahid Islam, one of the coordinators of the movement, said in a Facebook post.
Speaking to reporters after emerging from a meeting in Ganabhaban, the residence of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the law minister said that the government would appeal on Sunday, seeking an early hearing of its leave to appeal against the June 5 High Court verdict on quota reform.
The Appellate Division, which put a status quo on the matter for four weeks, is scheduled to hear the matter on August 7.
鈥業nitiative has been taken to arrange the court hearing on July 21 instead of August 7,鈥� said the law minister.
Following prime minister Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 Wednesday assurance, he said that the name of the High Court Division judge, Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman, was proposed to carry out the judicial inquiry.
The Cabinet Division later, in a circular, said that the one-member commission of inquiry, headed by Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman, would investigate the reasons behind the deaths of six people on July 16, identify the persons responsible, and submit its report to the government within 30 days.
鈥楢s the government has taken these decisions considering their demands, there is no necessity for protesting students to continue their movement,鈥� the law minister added.
Besides, talking to reporters at his office, attorney general AM Amin Uddin said on Thursday that he was instructed by the government to request the Appellate Division to hold an immediate hearing of its appeal.
Addressing the nation earlier on Wednesday, prime minister Hasina said that she believed students would get a fair decision from the court and asked them to wait until it came.
The protesters, however, in their immediate reaction, rejected the government鈥檚 proposal for a dialogue.
Protest coordinator Asif Mahmud said in his Facebook post that if law enforcement agencies were not withdrawn, or removed from the streets, if dormitories, campuses, and educational institutions were not reopened, and if the firing continued, the government would have to bear the full responsibility.
鈥楺uota reform alone will not resolve the crisis,鈥� he said.
鈥業nitially, using the judiciary, the government did not pay any heed to the demand, and law enforcers and party cadres tried to suppress the movement,鈥� he said, adding that now a farce was being staged in the name of addressing demand and in the name of dialogue.
鈥楴o farce will be entertained even in the name of the judicial inquiry committee,鈥� he added.
鈥楢ll student murderers must be tried,鈥� he said, adding that campuses be made free of the Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League.
