As Bangladesh Violence Intensifies, Over 300 Indians Return Home — A Look At Why Students Are Protesting

Bangladesh protest was initially triggered by student anger against quotas for government jobs, but have since escalated into a broader challenge for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government.

To control the deadly protests, police in Dhaka took the drastic step of banning all public gatherings for the day on Friday (Image: ANI)

Source : ANI

The Bangladesh government has imposed a curfew and deployed military forces after police failed to quell days of deadly unrest that has spread throughout the country, killing at least 105 people and leaving thousands of others injured. India has described the violent unrest--which poses a momentous challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's autocratic government after 15 years in office-- as an internal matter of Dhaka, but at the same time said it was closely monitoring the situation in the context of 15,000 Indians residing in that country.

The 15,000 Indians including 8,500 students are safe, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing on Friday.

A senior home department official told news agency PTI that 363 people reached Meghalaya through the Dawki Integrated Check Post on Friday, taking the total number of people taking refuge in the state to over 670. Of them, 204 are Indians, 158 are Nepalese and one person is from Bhutan.

Curfew In Bangladesh

To control the deadly protests, police in the capital Dhaka took the drastic step of banning all public gatherings for the day on Friday -- a first since protests began. "We've banned all rallies, processions and public gatherings in Dhaka today," police chief Habibur Rahman told news agency AFP, adding the move was necessary to ensure "public safety".

The Sheikh Hasina government also imposed a nationwide curfew after a combined 52 deaths were reported in Dhaka on Friday. "The government has decided to impose a curfew and deploy the military in aid of the civilian authorities," Hasina's press secretary Nayeemul Islam Khan told AFP.

'Communication Blackout'

Telecommunications were also disrupted and television news channels went off the air. Authorities had cut some mobile telephone services the previous day to try to quell the unrest. Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo reported train services had been also suspended nationwide as protesters blocked roads and threw bricks at security officials.

That however did not stop another round of confrontations between police and protesters around the sprawling megacity of 20 million people, despite an internet shutdown aimed at frustrating the organisation of rallies. Police fired tear gas to scatter protesters in some areas, according to a Reuters report.

'Protest To Continue'

"Our protest will continue," Sarwar Tushar, who joined a march in the capital and sustained minor injuries when it was violently dispersed by police, told AFP. 

"We want the immediate resignation of Sheikh Hasina. The government is responsible for the killings." Tushar added.

Student protesters also stormed a jail in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi and freed its inmates before setting the facility on fire. "I don't know the number of inmates, but it would be in the hundreds," a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The capital's police force earlier said protesters had on Thursday torched, vandalised, and carried out "destructive activities" on numerous police and government offices. Among them was the Dhaka headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which remains offline after hundreds of incensed students stormed the premises and set fire to a building.

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police has arrested Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, one of the top leaders of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Why Students Are Protesting?

The protests initially broke out over student anger against quotas that set aside 30 per cent of government jobs for the families of those who fought for independence from Pakistan.

The nationwide unrest - the biggest since Hasina was re-elected this year - has also been fuelled by high unemployment among young people, who make up nearly a fifth of a population of 170 million.

The protests have opened old and sensitive political fault lines between those who fought for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971 and those accused of collaborating with Islamabad.