Dhaka: At least 99 people were killed as fierce clashes erupted in Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh, prompting the authorities to declare a curfew after large numbers of students began a non–cooperation movement demanding the resignation of the country’s Sheikh Hasina government.
The country experienced a day of unprecedented violence on Sunday as 99 people, including 14 policemen, died in daylong clashes centred on the non-cooperation movement called by Students Against Discrimination, an English newspaper, Prothom Alo, reported.
The government has announced a three-day general holiday to ensure public safety amid the ongoing violent protests across the country.
Banks and financial institutions will remain closed for three days beginning tomorrow (Monday) during the general holiday, said Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque on Sunday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the people of the country to curb anarchists with iron hands.
“No one of those who now are carrying out violence is a student. They are terrorists,” said PM’s Assistant Press Secretary A B M Sarwer-E-Alam Sarker quoting the Prime Minister as saying.
Protesters clashed with police and Awami League men in Sherpur, resulting in three deaths and over 50 injuries, according to officials.
All the proceedings of the Appellate Division and High Court (HC) Division of the Supreme Court (SC) will remain closed for an indefinite period from Monday.
Bangladesh’s major airports, including Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, operated without disruption on Sunday, with all scheduled international and domestic flights running smoothly amid a nationwide non-cooperation movement. The timetable included 118 domestic flights with 59 departures and arrivals, according to the source.
Group Captain Muhammed Kamrul Islam, Dhaka airport’s executive director, told Dhaka Tribune that the airport was handling a robust schedule of 152 international flights — comprising 77 departures and 75 arrivals.
The airport official emphasised that there had been no cancellations of either international or domestic flights, underscoring the airport’s effective management during the unrest.
Bangladesh news outlet Prothiom Alo said at least 80 people, including 14 police personnel, died in pitched battles across the South Asian nation between the security forces and ruling Awami League activists on the one hand and the protesters on the other.
Violence flared up in the country after a brief lull as protesters under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Students’ Movement began a non-cooperation agitation, with a single-point demand for the government’s resignation over “atrocities” on students during last month’s anti-quota movement. The students have given a call for a long march on Monday.
To quell the unrest, the government has imposed an indefinite curfew from 1800 hours of Sunday and banned mobile internet services. The curfew will remain in effect till the next government orders, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Bloody clashes were reported from across the nation.
At least 13 police personnel from the Enayetpur Police Station in Sirajganj were killed when protesters attacked the station. The Police Headquarters confirmed the deaths in a press release.
Protests against the Bangladeshi government’s quota system for public jobs escalated last month following violent clashes at Dhaka University. Protesters demanded an end to the extensive reservation quotas in government service.
Out of the 56 per cent reserved posts, there was a quota of 30 per cent for family members of the country’s 1971 Liberation War veterans.
The protesting students alleged discrimination and favouritism towards supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose party Awami League led the independence movement against Pakistan rulers.
At many places where rallies and other forms of protest took place, many of the demonstrators chanted slogans calling for the government’s resignation, the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star reported.
Mobile operators have received instructions from government regulators to shut down mobile internet and applications, the report read.
On July 19, Bangladesh imposed a nationwide curfew to quell violence after over 100 people were killed and at least 300 police officers injured.
On July 21, the Bangladesh Supreme Court scrapped most of the quotas and ordered that 93 per cent of public sector jobs should be recruited on merit, leaving five per cent for the family members of veterans of the country’s independence war. A remaining two per cent is reserved for people from ethnic minorities or with disabilities.
In late July, Zaved Akhtar, president of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), said that the Bangladeshi economy had lost $10 billion to student protests, curfews, and communication blackouts.
UNI
