Student protests over Bangladesh’s quota system turned violent after the country’s courts refused to scrap the protested quotas, leaving the issue unresolved and leading longtime prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to flee the country.
Since it was created in 1971, the country’s disputed quota system, or civil service system, reserves jobs for various social class groups. It was created by the Awami League, a political party in Bangladesh that played a large part in the country claiming independence from Pakistan.
After Pakistan received their independence from the British, the country split into two territories: West Pakistan (modern-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh). However, language and economic priority differences contributed to growing tensions between the territories.
After an East Pakistani Awami League party official was elected president of the country in 1970, a war broke out between the territories, resulting in East Pakistan claiming its independence as Bangladesh.
The originally established quota system was created to set aside jobs for “freedom fighters” or those who fought in the war for Bangladesh’s independence. The quota initially reserved 30% of jobs for freedom fighters, 10% for women affected by the war and 40% for other various districts.
The government modified the structure in 2018 to provide “30 percent for families of freedom fighters, 10 percent for women, 10 percent for disadvantaged districts, 5 percent for small ethnic groups and 1 percent for people with disabilities.”
This resulted in 56% of the job market being reserved by the government, and 44% left for citizens to earn on merit.
Student protestors have been fighting to remove all quotas except the 6% allotted for those with disabilities and small ethnic groups.
In June of 2024, the High Court of Bangladesh received a written petition from relatives of war veterans asking for a review of the quota ban. The court ruled the ban unconstitutional, resulting in the reinstalment of the quota system.
Six schools organized peaceful protests the very next day. While the students from Dhaka University rallied at the Shaheed Minar, a monument commemorating those who fought for the Bengali Language Movement in the early 1950s, the main gate of the Dhaka-Aricha highway was blocked by students at Jahangirnagar University.
All across the country, students peacefully protested for the permanent abolishment of the quota system and for a chance to build their careers.
The Supreme Court put the quota system on hold for further evaluation on July 10. However, going against the cries of millions of students around Bangladesh, the quota was again reformed. 5% would be reserved for freedom fighters, 1% for ethnic minority communities, 1% for third-gender and physically disabled individuals, and the rest of the 93% for merit.
This judgment, however, failed to stop the peaceful protests. Five days later, Dhaka University students continued holding signs and chanting for the system’s abolishment. Suddenly, a group of people ran toward them with clubs, sticks and even guns. This unknown group brutally attacked the students. The next day, police began using violent force against peacefully protesting students at Begum Rokeya University.
What initially began as a protest for a fairer job market turned into a fight between students and the police, and casualties only rose from that point on. There were 624 casualties reported from July 16 to Aug. 16, protesters and police forces included, according to Prothom Alo, a daily newspaper based in Dhaka. Aug. 4–6 alone claimed 326 lives.
Amidst the demonstrations, Former prime minister Sheik Hasina called protesters ‘Razakar.’
Translating to “volunteer” from Bengali. “Razakar” is used as a derogatory word referring to Bangladeshis who supported Pakistani efforts to prevent Bangladesh’s freedom in the 1971 liberation war.
On Aug. 5, Hasina’s residence was broken into, burnt, and stolen from by thousands of demonstrators. She promptly resigned and fled to India.
Tech alumnus Dr. Nova Ahmed, now a professor at North South University in Dhaka, has seen first-hand what the violence has done to her country. Ahmed recalls that on the morning of the former prime minister’s flight to India, her university was attacked.
Her students repeatedly called her out of fear, and she made the trip to her school, but the police prohibited her from entering.
Feeling restless, she attempted to get into the school a few more times but was met with the same denial each time. After her efforts, she went to her mother’s house, which was nearby.
She said she was glad she made this decision because her mother unexpectedly received a call claiming that her daughter, sitting right next to her, had been shot. Her mother quickly tried to correct the person on the other side of the phone, telling them, “No, no. She’s sitting right next to me!” But the damage had already been done, as the rumor spread like wildfire.
She believes this was happening to agitate students and morally bring them down. Everyone in her life was told different stories, none of which were true. Since professors supported their students during these protests, this was a way for opposing groups to get students to stop their efforts out of fear and sadness.
“First it was ‘she got shot at her feet.’ Then, it was ‘she is dead, she passed away’,” Ahmed recalled. She felt “ashamed to be alive” as she watched the false information spread through phone calls not only to her family but also to her students and community.
When asked about the violent shift of the movement, Ahmed says the police, who were directly following the government’s instructions, were ordered to redirect protesters’ force by shooting at their feet or below the belt with rubber bullets. Ahmad says that this is not true.
“There was evidence that it was not rubber bullets or even if it was rubber bullets…it was targeted towards eyes or sensitive organs,” she said.
The violence wasn’t exclusive to just students, many children and workers were also killed in the chaos. Former Prime Minister Hasina imposed a shoot-to-kill curfew on July 16 to try and regulate large mobs. An internet blockade hit all homes nationwide from July 18 to July 23. The army did not join police efforts because they did not want to attack the public.
The movement has caused a great disconnect and loss of trust between the people and the government. With the sudden resignation of former Prime Minister Hasina, Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, was asked to lead an interim government. He intends to hold elections as soon as possible, and fulfill the demands of student protestors.
“We just wanted an honest person who loves the country,” says Ahmed. “Leaders will come and go. It’s just part of the system, but we need a better system so that good people are there.”