Anti-Quota Protests In Bangladesh: Atleast 104 Killed, 2,500 Injured; 300 Indian Students Return Home

Over 300 Indian students in Bangladesh were forced to return home as clashes between the anti-quota protesters and security forces resulted in the killing of at least 104 and injuring over 2,500 people so far.

The neighbouring nation has been witnessing widespread protests for weeks over the reintroduction of reservation in government jobs.Students, mostly hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir, taking a six-hour-long journey through cabs and security escorts, returned by crossing border points in the northeast yesterday.

The near-total internet shutdown and severely impacted telephone services disrupted the contact of Indian students with their families, prompting them to leave Bangladesh temporarily.The clashes between students, government supporters and security forces began last month, however, the tensions escalated on Monday when students clashed at Dhaka University, killing six people on Tuesday and leading the government to close all the universities in the country.Meanwhile, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cancelled her foreign trips to Spain and Brazil due to the prevailing situation.

After the independence of Bangladesh, 30 percent of the jobs were reserved for freedom fighters. In 1997, the government extended the quota to children of freedom fighters. In 2010, it was further expanded to include the grandchildren of freedom fighters. In 2018, following nationwide protests against this quota system, a government circular cancelled the quota system for first- and second-class jobs. The protests started in response to a verdict by the High Court on 5th last month which declared the 2018 government circular cancelling the 30 percent quota for freedom fighters’ descendants in government jobs, illegal.