On the night of August 3, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina convened an emergency meeting with university vice-chancellors and college principals amid escalating tensions. This move followed the rejection of her invitation for talks by student leaders, who have also demanded her resignation after over 200 fatalities in anti-quota protests.
Violent Clashes Over Quota System
Recently, Bangladesh has witnessed violent confrontations between police and primarily student demonstrators. The protesters are calling for the abolition of a contentious quota system that reserves 30 percent of government jobs for the descendants of veterans from Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence.
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Prime Minister’s Office Addresses the Situation
A spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated that Sheikh Hasina held a “view-exchange meeting” at her official residence, Ganobhaban, with university vice-chancellors, senior teachers, and college principals. Although specific details of the discussion were not disclosed, the spokesperson mentioned that the meeting addressed the “overall situation created by the students’ campaign and strategies to manage it.” The educators committed to collaborating to “protect the students from malicious influences.”
Mass Protest Rally in Dhaka
The meeting, which began around 8:15 pm BST and lasted nearly three hours, followed a large protest rally at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka. Tens of thousands of students, their families, and other citizens gathered to protest against the killings and mass arrests related to the quota system. Many demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans and called for Prime Minister Hasina’s resignation. Similar protests occurred in other major cities, with reports of scattered clashes.
Call for Civil Disobedience
Protest leaders have announced plans for an extensive civil disobedience campaign starting Sunday, urging officials and law enforcement to support their cause rather than the government. The government has previously accused the protesters’ “peaceful campaign” of being hijacked by the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, with support from former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s BNP. In response, the government issued an executive order banning Jamaat and its affiliated organizations on Friday.
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