TWO protests began on July 1. Teachers of the 35 public universities that have teachers’ associations started abstaining from work to press home their exclusion from the universal pension scheme called Pratyay that the government made mandatory. And, students and job-seekers started holding protests, first, against civil service job reservations and, then, for reforms.
As days rolled towards the middle of the month, the student protests gained ground, with students of private universities joining in and the protests spilling over places across the country. The peaceful protests flared up further at night on July 14 over the prime minister’s ‘razakar’ remark at a press briefing held on the outcome of her visit to India and China earlier in the afternoon. The University of Dhaka campus went abuzz with slogans late into that night.
The next day, on July 15, after the ruling Awami League’s general secretary, also the roads and bridges minister, at a briefing had said that the Awami League’s student front Chhatra League was ready to counter the protesters, the Chhatra League and the Juba League, the youth front of the Awami League, aided by the police in hours after the minister’s remark attacked the protesters, leaving at least 350 wounded. As the attacks continued the next day, on July 16, six were left dead across the country. Students of private universities, colleges and schools joined the protests that day. Border guards were deployed in five districts to contain the situation. Mobile internet services started facing disruption.
As the situation turned grave, the education ministry in the evening closed all colleges and schools in an effort to contain the spread of the protests. The University Grants Commission that night asked the universities to close the institutions and vacate the halls. The public universities started holding syndicate meetings the next day, on July 17, a public holiday on account of Ashura, and the universities started to be closed, one after another, and residents were asked to vacate the halls. The mobile internet services were taken off.
The protests flared up the next day, on July 18, and the attacks by the Chhatra League, Juba League, the police and border guards left, as media reported, at least 39 dead. The broadband internet services were taken off after the evening, creating a total void in the flow of information and adding to the scope for speculations. Border guard deployment was strengthened.
The government on July 19 called in the army in aid of civil administration along with the imposition of a curfew beginning at midnight past that day. The attacks and the violence left at least 67 dead. Protests and violence continued the next day on July 20, leaving at least 24 dead. The protesters urged people to observe a complete shutdown across the country.
The attacks on the protests and violence born out of it left at least 13 people dead on July 21. The Appellate Division, meanwhile that day, brought the percentage of job reservations from the earlier 56 per cent down to 7 per cent — 5 per cent for the children of freedom fighters, 1 per cent for national minorities and 1 per cent for people with disabilities and the third gender. The earlier scheme of 56 per cent had 10 per cent of the civil service jobs reserved for women, which the verdict has abolished. New demands have, meanwhile, come up during the protests which include an apology from the prime minister, the resignation of the roads and bridges minister and the home minister, and punishment of the attackers on the protesters.
Media counts say that at least 212 died in attacks and violence during the protests in July 16–27. The government finally on June 28, however, came up with an official figure of 147, which appears unbelievable in view of the gravity of the attack and the intensity of firing.
The government soon went high-handed with a repressive attitude, filing scores of cases against named and unnamed people and arresting students and leaders and activists of political parties in opposition, mostly without adhering to Supreme Court guidelines of May 2016 that were meant to stop law enforcers from doing excesses and to save citizens from police excesses.
The government has already arrested about 10,000 people until July 28. The government started employing tactic one after another to normalise the situation, which seemed not yet stable as protests took place at places even on July 29.
The government restored the broadband internet services at night on July 24, but with poor speed. The mobile internet services were put back to network in the afternoon on July 28. But the connectivity and the speed are hardly back to what they were before, creating disruption in electronic communication.
The government has, meanwhile, picked up three coordinators of the students protests and released them wounded. The law enforcers later picked up, first, the three coordinators again and, then, two. And the five, in the custody of the Detective Branch, announced a withdrawal of the protests. The facial expression of both the protest leaders and the police officials lend credence to a popular perception that the protesters were made to announce the withdrawal.
Before the Appellate Division’s verdict, government leaders, including the prime minister, have all the while asked the protesters to keep faith in court, which would resolve the civil service job reservations issue. More than a week after the protests had begun, government leaders said that the government was ready to bring down the percentage of job reservations to 20, leaving 80 per cent of the jobs to be based on merit.
The situation amply suggests that the government, which was ready to concede to the demands of the students, did not do so until the court gave its verdict, putting the government at liberty to change, reduce or increase the quota percentage. The government followed the court verdict to the letter and, that too, for all grades, from 20 to 9.
All the episodes that took place on part of the government and its leaders suggest that the government could sit with the protests leaders or took up the protests seriously enough to deal with the job reservations issue in time. If the government had had a stitch in time, it would have saved the government nine. The teacher’s work abstention is still on. The government needs to mind this, too, to create an environment for the universities to reopen.
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Abu Jar M Akkas is deputy editor at ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·.
