Bangladesh Caught In A Highly Avoidable Crisis

Bangladesh faces a grave crisis due to the ongoing student movement against government job quotas. What had started as a protest against reservation in government jobs, has snowballed into a violent anti-government movement claiming over 110 lives.

As the situation went out of control despite the deployment of the Police, Rapid Action Brigade and the Bangladesh Border Guards, Sheikh Hasina’s government has clamped a nationwide curfew, called in the Army to maintain law and order and shut down internet services. As the death toll has kept mounting despite these prohibitory measures, the Bangladesh government has now ordered the army to shoot anyone at sight during the curfew hours.

The country is now virtually cut off from the rest of the world. According to news that is trickling in, armoured vehicles and tanks are patrolling the streets of Dhaka and elsewhere, which is reminiscent of the Pakistani crackdown in 1971 on those demanding autonomy for the then East Pakistan. A similar situation prevails in the rest of the country.

Up to 2018, the various quotas that were available in government jobs in Bangladesh were: (a) Descendants of freedom fighters: 30%, (b) Women: 10%, (c) Residents of the concerned districts: 10%, (d) Tribal people: 5%, and (e) Specially-abled persons: 1%. The remaining 44% of the jobs were unreserved.

In 2018, in the wake of a stir by the students for the abolition of the quota for the descendants of the freedom fighters, the Hasina government removed all quotas in government jobs. This was challenged in the High Court.

In its verdict given in early June this year, the High Court Division quashed the Government’s 2018 order abolishing the quota for the descendants of the freedom fighters. The government appealed against this order, which is likely to be heard by the Appellate Division soon.

The ongoing protest against the quota started following the High Court Division’s verdict under the banner of the “Students’ Movement against Discrimination” – an umbrella organisation without any political affiliation. The stir, which started in Dhaka, soon spread to universities across the country. Though vociferous, it was a non-violent protest in its initial stage marked by processions, and blockades. There have been some discussions in the media about how the movement took a sudden, violent turn.

When the stir was rapidly spreading from one university to another, and the blockades of highways and other roads were creating problems for the common man by dislocating transportation, Prime Minister Hasina was in China. The Awami League leadership discussed the matter within the party to find a solution.

It is learnt that a section of senior party leaders was of the view that the protests were the handiwork of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami/ Islamic Chhatra Shibir. A top leader reportedly told the meeting that he had the right solution for the problem. He prescribed the use of the Chhatra League (the student wing of the Awami League) cadre to crush the agitation by dispersing the agitating students and removing the roadblocks.

Meanwhile, Hasina returned from abroad on 14 July. At a press conference, she was asked whether the quota for the descendants of the freedom fighters was being abolished. To this, she retorted, “If freedom fighters’ descendants do not get the quota, who will get it, the razakars’ descendants?”

In Bangladesh, the term “Razakar” is considered a highly objectionable word and a filthy abuse, as it is used for the most hated group of people who collaborated with the Pakistani Army and perpetrated some of the most horrendous crimes during the 1971 liberation war. Nothing would hurt the feelings of the students more than being accused of being descendants of razakars.

The wood was dry and ready. The Prime Minister’s sarcastic remark worked as the spark that flared up the fire. From midnight of 15 July, the students in large numbers hit the street chanting the slogans “Who Am I? Razakar. Who has said so? The Autocrat,” and “We demanded our rights, but were branded razakars!”

From the next morning, that is on 16 July, the Chhatra League cadres allegedly descended upon the agitating students in Dhaka with sticks, choppers and even firearms “to resolve the issue politically.” Over 300 students were reportedly injured in these attacks. The attackers did not even spare those who were under treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. They twisted the students’ slogans to mean that they were acknowledging they were razakars and, therefore, needed to be taught a lesson.

The news of organised attacks on students by the Chhatra League cadre spread like wildfire across the country. Now it was for the general body of the students to “teach the goons a lesson.” At almost every university campus the Chhatra League workers were flushed out and attacked by the anti-quota agitators. The students also called for a nationwide shutdown on 18 July.

The whole country became a battlefield on the next day as common people also joined the agitation. Cases of arson and destruction of property were reported from every corner of the country. The police and the Border Guards Bangladesh, who were called in by then, could not control the situation. Ultimately, the government called in the Army and imposed a lockdown.

Nahid Islam, spokesperson of the Students’ Movement Against Discrimination announced yesterday that their movement is completely apolitical and they were only demanding reform of the quota in jobs. He categorically declared that they have no connection whatsoever with those who indulged in arson and destruction of properties.

The Police have claimed that Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami has infiltrated the students’ movement and indulged in subversive activities. It is learnt that the intelligence agencies of Bangladesh have also reported that the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and JEI took full advantage of the façade of a students’ agitation and seized the opportunity to try and topple the government by violent means.

These allegations and assumptions may as well be correct. However, the fact remains that the Awami League failed to demonstrate the sagacity, maturity, and patience expected of a party that has been in power for the last fifteen years without a break.

Its student wing in particular should have picked up the murmur of discontent within the student community and, instead of taking the law into its own hands as alleged, should have conveyed the same to the party bosses for effective, consultative, and non-violent measures to defuse the tension that was building up.

It is believed that the Bangladesh government has adopted a mix of stern as well as reconciliatory steps to find a solution to the issue that will be acceptable to all sides. While the police have arrested Nahid Islam, the chief coordinator of the Students’ Movement against Discrimination, talks have reportedly begun between government officials and some student leaders. That is of course the right approach and it is hoped it will succeed.

The United Nations has expressed its concern over the loss of lives in Bangladesh. Any loss of life is regrettable. However, it should be remembered that the agitation by students against the government and the action taken by the latter to maintain the rule of law are internal matters of that country, and Bangladesh is quite capable of handling the situation without any outside intervention to queer the pitch. India has correctly taken this position.

Still, when there is turmoil in the neighbourhood its effect is surely felt in its periphery, and the sooner the upheavals subside the better it is not only for Bangladesh, but the region as a whole.

Sandip Mitra retired from the Indian Foreign Service. He was also posted in Bangladesh during his tenure in office.The views expressed here are the writer’s own.