After a Supreme Court ruling, Bangladesh has seen a day of calm following violent protests over government job quotas. The ruling eliminated most quotas, leading to an end to demonstrations. Students and activists had protested against the quotas, which reserved jobs for relatives of veterans of the 1971 war of independence.
After days of deadly protests, calm has returned to Bangladesh as the Supreme Court has scrapped most government job quotas that had sparked the demonstrations.
Bangladesh Quotas Scrapped, Calm Returns After Deadly Protests
On Sunday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an appeal from the government, overturning a lower court's decision and eliminating most of the quotas. The court directed that 93% of government jobs should be open to candidates on merit.
The ruling has led to an end to the protests that had rocked the country, resulting in at least 147 deaths and thousands of injuries. Security forces had fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound grenades to scatter the demonstrators.
Bangladesh Quotas Scrapped, Calm Returns After Deadly Protests
On Monday, streets appeared calm in Bangladesh's capital, a day after the Supreme Court's ruling. Most protesters appeared to be obeying a curfew in cities that had seen regular demonstrations after a high court in June reinstated old quotas.
A public holiday declared over the last two days was extended to Tuesday, according to a government notification. "Normalcy will return within one or two days," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters.
Experts have blamed the unrest on stagnant job growth in the private sector and high rates of youth unemployment that have made government jobs, with their regular wage hikes and other privileges, more attractive.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, who was sworn in for a fourth consecutive term this year, has been accused of authoritarianism, human rights violations, and crackdowns on free speech and dissent in the past - charges her government denies.
After the Supreme Court's ruling, protesters gave Bangladesh's government 48 hours to meet a string of new demands, including a public apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the violence, and the restoration of internet connections disrupted during the unrest.
However, most protesters appeared to be obeying a curfew on Monday, and there were no reports of violence or protests across the country.
Army tanks were seen stationed at several places in the streets of Dhaka, the capital, while armed security patrols directed the few motorists who ventured out.
Hours after the Supreme Court's ruling, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement issued a statement demanding that the government reopen campuses and end restrictions imposed during the protests.
The Movement also called for the resignation of some ministers and university officials, and the dismissal of police officers deployed in the areas where students were killed.
"We are giving an ultimatum to the government to fulfill our eight-point demand within 48 hours," one of the Movement's leaders, Hasnat Abdullah, told reporters. He did not specify the consequences if the government did not meet the demands.
Protesters said some of their leaders were detained, including Nahid Islam, who told the media he was picked up by "20-30 people" claiming to be police early Sunday morning and taken to a room where he said he was tortured until he lost consciousness.
"When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on the streets," he said. Reuters could not immediately verify Islam's information.
Bangladesh's $416 billion economy had been one of the fastest-growing in the world for years, but has faced struggles after the COVID-19 pandemic. Costly energy imports following the war in Ukraine shrank its dollar reserves, which fanned inflation and pushed the government to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
