In the Bangladesh Civil Service, the term "quota system" refers to the current system that includes underrepresented districts, disabled groups, religious and ethnic minorities, and the descendants of independence fighters from the Bangladesh Liberation War. The quota system has been there since independence, and in 2011, the grandchildren of independence fighters were added. Recently, the high court ruled that 30% of the entire quota was just for the independence fighters' descendants. This was the inciting incident that led to an uproar in the country. The streets of Bangladesh soon erupted into fury, and the students actively protested.
Since the start of July, students have been peacefully protesting after the high court passed this very controversial order. The sequence of events began on the 14th of July. The students of Dhaka University, Jagannath University and Jahangirnagar University started protesting in and around their campuses in the capital, demanding a discrimination quota-free system. The student wing of the Awami League (ruling party), called Chatro League, started attacking the peaceful protesters in Dhaka, Jagannath and Jahangirnagar universities. They used rods, sticks, and bricks to hit unarmed students. The protests escalated throughout the country, and many other universities in the capital joined the protest. The Chatro League were attacking students, and students were retaliating against these attacks.
The situation escalated, and the students of Dhaka University were able to make their halls politics-free by vandalizing politically aligned students' rooms. On this day, the police also joined the riots. They were supposed to provide safety to students but ended up joining hands with the Chatro League to attack students. Many students were critically injured, and some even died. Police used tear gas, sound grenades, rubber bullets and occasional real bullets. The students in public university halls were told to empty hostels, and the border guard of Bangladesh patrolled university campuses. Many RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) force helicopters roamed, surveillancing and shooting in different areas of Dhaka. Videos of tanks and military vehicles rolling out of cantonments were seen.
The internet was shut down at 8:30 pm on 18th July in the whole country. The government blamed “terrorists” for burning data centers, but Cloudflare data showed the government directed it. From the 18th to the 23rd of July, a Nationwide curfew was announced, and military personnel were rolling out in the country. RAB and police were randomly abducting, killing and torturing students at this time as no one could spread information or communicate. Random students were checked and abducted, and leaders of the protests were tortured to give their duress.National TV was flooded with government propaganda and vital ministers' lies. While social media and online presence shed significant light on the situation, the huge death toll of students, the burning of death certificates, and the protection of police and Chatro League members led to the apathetic voiding and negligence of rights and human lives.
Sheikh Hasina first came to power when she was elected in 1996 and then assumed the office of the Prime Minister in 2009. She descended from the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (her father), Bangladesh's "Father of the Nation", who led the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971 and became its first president. As the protests and calls for her resignation after her fourth straight Prime Ministerial win became larger, she, referring to the demonstrators as "terrorists," asked for assistance in order to "suppress these terrorists with a firm hand".
Following weeks of protests that the government attempted to put an end to, approximately 300 people lost their lives, and Sheikh Hasina handed in her resignation and fled the country right after. What followed was thousands of people smashing through the gates of Hasina's official residence, jubilant crowds waving flags and even dancing on top of a tank in the streets. Images of celebratory crowds pouring into the property and waving to the camera were shown on Bangladesh's Channel 24, with some people snatching books and furniture and others unwinding on mattresses. An interim government will now govern Bangladesh, army head General Waker-Uz-Zaman declared in a speech to the people, urging calm.
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