The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday seized the opportunity to appeal to Indian citizens in Bangladesh following the advisory from the High Commission of India in Dhaka that people must avoid going out as the country goes on strike against the government’s job quota system.
As MEA Randhir Jaiswal cited in a social media post on X, all the high commissions and assistant high commissions have been in place to help Indians in Bangladesh.
Pertinently the advisory said, “Given the situation which is currently prevailing in Bangladesh, the Indian community members and the Indian students who are living in Bangladesh are being advised to refrain from any movement and try to avoid going out of their homes. ”
The conflict has taken the lives of at least 39 people this week; 32 of them died Thursday. Protestors set government offices on fire, and a total Mohamad Sheikh Hasina-led Government also shut down the entire internet connection across the country.
Over 2500 persons have been injured; for weeks, hundreds of university students have been demonstrating in Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka, opposing Bangladesh’s reservation system in public sector jobs.
At present and through the Numerical Strength, over fifty per cent of government positions are set aside for distinct categories, particularly for the children of freedom fighters of the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
The same year, the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina intended to abolish this sort of reservation due to protest. But, in response, the Bangladesh High Court reversed this in June, which enraged the students. The High Court recently found the method unconstitutional, and the government has scheduled a date before the Supreme Court for its appeal on the matter, which has been set for August 7.
This has taken a worse turn after Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina declined to address the students’ strike, which saw many of the student wing of Hasina’s Awami League party fight the police armed with rubber bullets, tear gas and noise grenades, and thousands of anti-quota demonstrators.
On Thursday, demonstrators burnt down the state broadcaster, following protests after the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, attempted to address citizens on the channel the previous day and appeal against the further deterioration of the violent confrontations.
