Bangladesh: Students’ Protest Or Vandalism? – Analysis

By Sanchita Bhattacharya

At least 151 people have been killed and more than 2,500 injured in Bangladesh over the past week (data till July, 21), after protests over a quota system in government jobs turned violent. Taking action on the increasing violence on July 19, the Bangladesh government announced a nationwide curfew and shoot-on-sight orders. The protesters are demanding the government scrap the quota system, which they claim profits only the ruling Awami League party led by Sheikh Hasina. Prime Minister Hasina, has been accused of using the quota system to reward her party's loyalists. Protestors allege the system is unfair and limits their job opportunities.

The violence commenced after a High Court decision reinstating the 30 per cent quota for family members of freedom fighters, who had fought during the liberation movement of 1971. The quota had been suspended by the Sheikh Hasina Government in 2018. The 27-page High Court verdict was published on July 14. According to it, the Government was free to reform the quota if it wanted. However, the Supreme Court on July 10, suspended the High Court's order for a month, and was set to hear the government's challenge on August 7.

The protestors burned the country's state broadcasterBTV’sbuilding on July 18. A day later on July 19, protestors, attacked the former Mayor of Ghazipur, Jahangir Alam and killed his bodyguard. In Narsingdi District, protestors stormed a jail and freed hundreds of inmates before setting the building on fire; a Police base was also attacked in Rangpur District by around 4,000 people. Telecommunications were disrupted and the television news channel went off air. Several news websites, including key government sites such as those of the Central Bank, Police, and the Prime Minister’s Office, were also targeted and hacked by a group calling itself “THE R3SISTANC3.” The hackers used the Prime Minister’s Office website to issue a message condemning the Government's actions and calling for an end to the violence, stating, “It’s not a protest anymore. It’s a war now.”

However, in its July 21 ruling (which was initially scheduled for August 7), the Supreme Court of Bangladesh curtailed the quota from 30 per cent to five per cent, for families of freedom fighters, with 93 per cent of positions now to be filled on merit. The remaining two per cent is to be allocated to ethnic minorities, transgender individuals, and people with disabilities. It has also urged student protesters to return to class. Sheikh Hasina’s government declared July 21 and July 22 as public holidays, with only emergency services permitted to be operational.

The quota system in Bangladesh was introduced in 1972 and has been changed several times since then. Before it was abolished in 2018, the system reserved 56 per cent of government jobs for various categories – 30 per cent for freedom fighters, 10 per cent for women, 10 per cent for underdeveloped districts, five per cent for minorities and one per cent for the disabled. After a series of student protests, the government scrapped the quota system for 9th–13th grade government jobs in 2018.

Commencing on July 14, the ongoing protests took a dark turn after a statement by Prime Minister Hasina on television in which she refused to accept any demands of the protestors, referred to them asrazakars(members of an East Pakistan paramilitary force that opposed the freedom struggle of 1971). Sheikh Hasina declared,

“Why there is so much of resentment against Mukti Juddho? Are the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters not talented? Are only the children and grandchildren of Razakars talented? If the grandchildren of the freedom fighters don’t get quota benefits, should the grandchildren of Razakars get the benefit? This is my question to the people of this country. What is the fault of Mukti Jodhha? They selflessly fought for the freedom of this country… Otherwise those who are protesting today would be subjected to kicks of Pakistanis.”

Her statement inflamed protestors. Who took out processions on July 15, at Dhaka University, chanting –“Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, Razakar! Ke boleche, ke boleche, sairachar- sairachar”[“Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar! Who says that who says that, dictator, dictator!”] Subsequently, students of Jahangirnagar University, Jagannath University, Rajshahi University, Chittagong University, Comilla University, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj, and Barishal University, held separate processions.

Razakar, which means ‘volunteer’ or ‘helper’ in Persian and Urdu, consisted mainly of pro-Pakistani Bengalis and Biharis in East Pakistan who were against separation from Pakistan and fought the freedom fighters (Mukti Jodhha). An estimated 50,000 Razakars helped the Pakistan Army, conducting raids and committing atrocities against the local population of East Pakistan. The Razakars, along with radical religious militias such as Al-Badr and Al-Shams, targeted civilians, students, intellectuals and religious minorities, who fought for the liberation of Bangladesh. The brutal action against pro-Liberation Bangladeshis by the Pakistani military with the aid ofRazakarsled to the death of anywhere between 300,000 to three million civilians, rape of 100,000 to 400,000 women and 25,000 to 195,000 forced pregnancies. In Bangladesh, ‘Razakar’ has become a term of abuse, meaning ‘collaborator’ and is linked to betrayal of the country.

Unsurprisingly, while addressing the signing ceremony of Annual Performance Agreements (APAs) for the 2024-25 fiscal year, the next day, on July 15, Hasina dejectedly stated,

“They don't feel ashamed to call themselves Razakars…They didn't know how the Pakistani occupation forces and Razakar Bahini had resorted to torture in the country – they didn't see the inhuman torture and bodies lying on the roads. So, they don't feel ashamed to call themselves Razakar… I felt sorry when I heard yesterday the students of Ruqayyah Hall calling themselves razakars. Do they know what had taken place there on March 25, 1971? Some 300 girls were killed and 40 girls were raped and taken to the Pakistani camps."

Unfortunately, instead of working for a viable solution, this protest has been politicised with the support of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its students’ wing Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatradal. On July 19, Police fired tear gas at a few hundred BNP supporters, and arrested BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. Following this arrest and indicating his full support to the protestors, on July 19, Tarique Rahman, Acting Chairman of BNP and Khaleda Zia’s eldest son, posted onX

…I call upon all leaders, activists, and common people of the pro-democracy political parties, including the BNP, in Bangladesh to stand by these tender-hearted students, provide them with all support, and carry this movement forward. Use all your strength to make this student-led movement successful. The fall of Hasina, weighed down by her sins, and her corrupt and anti-human rights associates, is inevitable. Allah Hafez, Bangladesh Zindabad.

Earlier, on July 17, Police clashed with BNP supporters in Dhaka after the funeral of six protestors, who died a day earlier. BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir accused Police of barring their supporters from the funeral prayers. Detective Chief, Harun-or-Rashid disclosed that Police arrested seven members of BNP’s student wing, and that detectives recovered 100 crude bombs, 500 wooden and bamboo sticks, and five to six bottles of gasoline in a raid at an undisclosed location.

As expected in the age of social media and fast dissemination of ‘content’, these riots reached the UK as well. On July 18, in the Whitechapel area of east London, which has a large Bangladeshi community in the wider Tower Hamlets borough, rocks were thrown and cars damaged as large groups of mostly adult men clashed. “I recognise that events that take place in Bangladesh can have a significant impact on communities here in Tower Hamlets, but we cannot allow that strength of feeling to tip into threats, violence and disorder," Police Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway later observed.

The protestors not only caused havoc in the country but have also shaken the core of Bangladeshi society, with the divisive chanting of ‘Razakar Razakar’ in several demonstrations. There is a danger that the Supreme Court’s decision to prepone the date of its verdict from the initial August 7, to July 21, its appeal to the students and the curtailment of quota for families of freedom fighter, may be considered a precedent, by future protestors and rioters, particularly as a weakened BNP, as well as a network of Islamist groupings, seek opportunities to corner the Hasina Government.

• Sanchita Bhattacharya
  Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management