Protesting students for quota reform in government jobs on Saturday issued a 24-hour ultimatum to meet their three-point demand, including enactment of a law in the parliament through forming a commission, and warned of a street movement tougher than 鈥榗omplete shutdown鈥�.
Their other demands are return of those disappeared and release of arrested protesters with withdrawal of false cases; and removal of those, from minister to constable, involved in the 鈥榤ass killings鈥�.
Urging the international human rights organisations and powerful countries across the globe to exert pressure on the government to account for the perpetration of the mass killings, Abdul Hannan Masud, one of the coordinators of the Students Movement Against Discrimination, a platform for anti-quota movement, announced at an online press conference on Saturday night through Google Meet.
鈥榃e will carry out online and offline campaigns, including wall art tomorrow聽聽 [Sunday]. We will collect documents of the mass killings and arrests and intimidation and try to give them聽 to the global communities via embassies on the day after tomorrow [Monday],鈥� Abdul said, adding that they would go for tougher movement than the previous 鈥榗omplete shutdown鈥� and 鈥楤angla blockade鈥�.
Abdul Hannan claimed that the police were carrying out raids on houses searching students like what the Pakistani occupation forces did in 1971 in search of Bengalis.
According to Hannan, they had primarily created a list of martyrs in the movement in which they found 266 were killed aged between 14 and 60, and 78 per cent of them were students.
鈥榃e have created the list of martyrs in 24 hours. We assumed that it would exceed one thousand,鈥� he added.聽
He alleged that the United Nations vehicles and helicopters were used to kill students and innocent civilians.
Abdul Hannan also claimed that they were now on the run to escape from the police and other government security agencies.
The platform鈥檚 co-coordinator Mahin Sarkar said that he had rejected the 鈥榩rime minister鈥檚 speech saying that helicopters were used to spray water to douse fire.
鈥業t is completely falsehood,鈥� he added.
The Appellate Division on July 21 scrapped the High Court verdict that on June 5 asked the government to restore quotas in public services.聽
The apex court fixed 93 per cent jobs for merit-based recruitment, and ordered a 7 per cent quota鈥�5 per cent for the children of freedom fighters, and 1 per cent for national minorities, and 1 per cent for people with disabilities and third gender.
At least 212 people were killed and several thousand injured during the countrywide student protests that turned violent in July 17鈥�21.
The government imposed curfew midnight past July 19 and deployed army amid a volatile situation.
