Bangladesh's Top Court Cuts Job Quotas After Deadly Protests

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Facts

• Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Sunday scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs after student protests turned deadly and killed at least 151 people across the country in the past week.¹
• Nullifying a lower court's decision that had reinstated a 30% set aside of government jobs for descendants of freedom fighters who fought in the country's 1971 War of Independence, the top court ruled that only 5% of the roles can be reserved for veterans' kin.²
• In addition, the court directed that 93% of government jobs will be open to candidates on merit, while the remaining 2% will be reserved for people from ethnic minorities or with disabilities.³
• Following the ruling, student leaders gave Bangladesh's government 48 hours to meet their new demands before they would call off the protests, including an apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.⁴
• The protesters, who called for a nationwide shutdown on Monday, have also demanded the resignation of Hasina's ministers, swift enforcement of the ruling, and the release of detained leaders.⁵
• Hasina — re-elected for the fourth successive term in January — is yet to respond to the ruling or the protesters' demands. Meanwhile, apart from intermittent clashes, a lull in the violence filled the streets of Dhaka on Monday.⁶

Sources: ¹Bloomberg, ²Guardian, ³Al Jazeera (a), ⁴Reuters, ⁵Al Jazeera (b) and ⁶Firstpost.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by OpIndia. The Supreme Court verdict vindicates Bangladesh's student protesters who have been insisting that Hasina's quota system unfairly benefitted her political supporters. However, the ruling doesn't mean the end of the protests. Students want justice for the lives lost and accountability for the peaceful demonstrations turning violent. Until Hasina apologizes for the weeks-long violence and repression and passes a quota reform bill through parliament, the movement will continue.
• Narrative B, as provided by BBC News. The ruling is prudent and will be implemented shortly. However, the protesters' fresh demands are unreasonable, politically motivated, and hold the government hostage. The students torched government buildings, police checkpoints, and the capital's railway network. If the government is forced to apologize for intervening to end the violence, the anarchists should also be held accountable for vandalizing public properties and bringing the country to a complete halt.