Decoding Bangladesh’s recent violent movement under the guise of the quota reform movement

Ozair Islam 

(ozairislam800@gmail.com)

Bangladesh has begun to sigh with relief as daily life has begun to return to normal following the recent violent movement under the guise of the quota reform movement. In actuality, that apocalyptic state was brought about when a peaceful student movement advocating for the reform of public sector employment quotas descended into nationwide violence, with the active support and participation of certain opposition political parties. The movement for quota reform was launched on July 1st, 2024. Initially known as the quota reform movement, it eventually evolved into an anti-government and anti-quota movement, propelled by certain shrewd political forces. Furthermore, the attempts to destroy the country’s mass infrastructure and other violent episodes that occurred during the protests highlighted the depth of the danger and violence of escalation to meet their own ends. The parties involved needed to be extremely restrained and avoid doing anything that would make the situation worse. Thus, from its nonviolent beginnings, the quota reform movement turned violent on July 16 and resulted in the deaths of 197 people, including law enforcement employees. Perhaps, the students were unaware of these consequences. In fact, it turned out to be one of the most violent movements in Bangladeshi history.

The manner in which the corpses of four police personnel were exhibited in Jatrabari was utterly repugnant. Jatrabari in Dhaka was the epicentre of tension and conflict during the recent nationwide chaos, as violent clashes broke out between law enforcement agencies and miscreants posing as quota reform protestors. What looked to be a nonviolent protest to change the quota system had turned into a chaotic scene. Severity attacks at the various entry points of Dhaka, clashes on Hanif Flyover, and the Bangla blockade of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway demonstrated the demonstrators’ malicious intent to cut off Dhaka from the rest of the nation. By interfering with everyday people’s transportation, major transportation routes were blocked, which caused further suffering and escalation. These criminals’ true goals were to destroy the nation’s most significant infrastructure advancements of the previous 15 years, which the populace is proud of. The perpetrators targeted numerous significant government and non-government infrastructures, including the main building of the Bridges Authority, the Bangladesh Television Building, the Express Highway, the BGMEA Building, and many others. Over the past few days, numerous significant locations in the capital have been subjected to horrific acts of vandalism and arson. For example, the depth of severity on the Padma Bridge, the Mayor Hanif Flyover, and the Metro Rail. These demonstrated their training as arsonists.

Among the most severely impacted are the capitals of Jatrabari, Shonir Akhra, Narayanganj, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Farmgate, Gulistan, Mirpur, Rampura, Mohakhali, and Uttara. Horrible arson attacks have rendered the metro rail stations at Mirpur 10, Kazipara, and Sheorapara completely unusable. The relevant authorities have advised that it will take nearly a year to fully restart these stations. The Internet outage was actually caused by an attack on the data centre and optical fiber. In fact, this had brought the entire network of commerce and communication to a complete halt. The nation was cut off from the outside world due to an internet blackout. These steps, fueled by vested quarters politically, had serious economic consequences. The violent conflicts have caused infrastructure damage, supply chain disruptions, and industry closures that have cost Bangladesh billions of dollars in lost revenue and negatively impacted essential industries like clothing, steel, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, the ramifications went beyond short-term financial losses. International partners and investors are becoming concerned as the nation’s reputation as a stable investment destination has been damaged. Prolonged internet outages, which are necessary for contemporary business operations and communication, have made matters worse economically, impacting Bangladeshi e-commerce, banking, and international service sectors. Fundamentally, the crisis was a reflection of broader social issues in a fast-changing economy.

This prompted the government to deploy the armed forces to support the civil administration in restoring law and order across the nation and to impose a nationwide curfew starting at midnight on Friday. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded by enacting a curfew and a communication blackout in an effort to restore order. The army’s deployment was a calculated move to strengthen the civil administration’s ability to handle a difficult and unstable situation. They were taken to protect public safety and stop the violence from getting worse. Meanwhile, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court delivered its decision yesterday, overturning the HC verdict that had nullified the government circular about quotas and retaining just 7% (5 percent for the children of freedom fighters and 2% reserved for tribal, physically challenged, and third gender) quota for 9th–13th grade government jobs—a percentage that is extremely similar to the protesters’ demanded percentage. Since there are no longer any sons or daughters of freedom fighters seeking employment, the final percentage is 98 percent merit-based. The decision is welcomed, even though it took longer than anticipated given the current political and social unrest in the nation as a result of the protesters’ movement and the opponents’ counteractions. Consequently, bringing a sigh of relief, the protesting students have also rightly called off their protests along with an announcement to not take to the streets again. So, we can now expect that normalcy will return to our society very soon.