Bangladesh imposes curfew as student protests over quota escalate

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government late Friday nightannounced a nationwide curfew across Bangladesh and ordered the deployment of military forces to maintain order following days of deadly clashes over the allocation of government jobs.

The announcement was made by Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party, and came after police and security officials fired on protesters on Friday and banned all gatherings in the capital. Several people were killed, media reports said.

Quader said the military was deployed to help the civilian administration keep order.

Tourists stranded in Bangladesh have started coming to India through the Integrated Check Post Akhaura in Tripura’s Agartala.

Violence escalates

The anti-quota protests took a violent turn after student protesters stormed a jail in Narsingdi district on Friday and set it on fire after freeing hundreds of inmates. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) banned all rallies and processions in the national city.

The protests are led by the Students Against Discrimination, a coalition of student unions barring the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BSL) – the youth wing of Hasina’s Awami League.

Last month, Bangladesh’s High Court reinstated the quotas after relatives of the 1971 Liberation War veterans filed petitions, triggering the latest demonstrations. So far, 64 people have died in clashes as the country's government imposed a nationwide curfew.

Indian students return home

The protests have prompted the Bangladeshi authorities to shut down all public and private educational institutions indefinitely, disrupting the lives of many students, including those from India.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said 63 students from the state safely returned from Bangladesh, adding that he is in constant touch with the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh to evacuate more students from there.

Sangma stated that the state government is planning to create a portal where students from Meghalaya studying abroad can register themselves. "If any emergency arises, we will be able to contact them and help them as we have the information," he said.

Peace talks

Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul Huq said the government was willing to hold talks with the protesters, to which, the demonstrators stated they were ready as well to take up the offer, it was reported.

Protest coordinator Nahid Islam, however, said that discussions and opening fire "do not go hand in hand". He was quoted as saying: "We cannot trample over dead bodies to hold discussions."

Huq said mobile internet has been temporarily suspended in the country in the wake of the protests.

“The matter is intensified in Bangladesh. All the students have come out to protest. We demand to stop the quota system. I want the problem to be solved very soon. Our demand should be accepted. And the students who have lost their lives, we are with them and they must get proper compensation,” a student from Bangladesh, Anik Pal, told ANI.