Bangladesh’s Supreme Court slashes govt job quota which caused deadly protests

The apex court in Bangladesh has drastically reduced a government job quota system that was responsible for street protests which claimed the lives of over 100 people and caused injuries to several hundreds of other people.

The Supreme Court on Sunday virtually quashed the quota system after weeks of unrest across the nation between the demonstrators and police operatives who fought desperately to contain the situation.

Students who feared a bleak future as unemployment rose in the country, had crossed the streets demanding an end to the quota system which reserved 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in the country’s 1971 War of Independence.

The government which had previously stopped implementation of the quota in 2018 after mass student protests, resumed its implementation in June after Bangladesh’s High Court reinstated the quota system, prompting the latest protests.

The Supreme Court, ruling on an appeal on Sunday, ordered that the veterans’ quota be cut from 30 percent to 5 percent, with 93% of jobs to be allocated on merit while the remaining 2 percent is to be set aside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and people with disability.

It was unclear by Sunday afternoon whether the protesting students would calm down in reaction to the court verdict.

Before the Supreme Court sitting, the street protests had gotten so out of hand that the authorities had to place the country on a strict curfew.

Home Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan had said the curfew which largely confined citizens to their respective homesteads would be relaxed from 3pm to 5pm on Sunday for people to rush around for their essential needs.