'Common Man's Livelihood Paralysed': Bangladesh PM Pins Blame On Opposition For Violent Protests

Dhaka: Defending her decision on enforcing curfew with a shoot-on-sight order in the recent clashes between the police and protesters, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said that appropriate tough measures were taken to ensure the security of the lives and properties of the people.

Bangladesh experienced violent confrontations between the police and primarily student demonstrators who were calling for the abolition of a contentious job quota system that allocated 30 percent of government jobs to relatives of veterans from the 1971 war of independence.

Livelihood Paralysed in Bangladesh

In a statement, Bangladesh PM said that life and livelihood of the common people of the entire country have been paralysed due to the enforcement of the "complete shutdown" programme and recent incidents centring on the quota movement.

The remarks of the Bangladesh PM came after Bangladesh's Supreme Court scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs, meeting a key demand of protesters. 

Hasina has blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami and their student wings for the violence.

"They destroyed numerous government-owned and private vehicles including buses and trucks by setting fire to these," she said.

Hasina said that under the circumstances, the government imposed a curfew temporarily to "ensure the security of the lives and properties of the people and return the life and living to normalcy".

The internet and mobile services were snapped following the country-wide violence.

“As a result, normal income-generating activities of lower income and working people, particularly daily wage earners like rickshaw and van pullers, hawkers, vendors, day labourers and transport workers, have been hampered, resulting in putting them in untold suffering,” she added.

Why Protests Erupted In Bangladesh? 

The protests in Bangladesh have been driven by demands for reform of the country's quota system for civil service jobs, which reserves positions for specific groups, including descendants of those who participated in the 1971 War of Independence against Pakistan. More than 130 people were killed in the protests. Various student bodies called for a nationwide protests while Bangladesh government announced a nationwide curfew. 

Bangladesh SC Cuts Down Quota 

Following protests that resulted into the deaths of over 100 fatalities over contentious civil service hiring rules, Bangladesh Supreme Court ruled to slash the quota reserved for relatives of war veterans' from 30 per cent to 5 per cent while allowing 93 per cent to be allocated based on merit and the remaining 2 per cent will be earmarked for members of ethnic minorities, transgender individuals, and the disabled.

(With inputs from Agencies)