I have a complicated history with the ruling government party of Bangladesh. Growing up, I always had some sympathy for the Awami League—one of the country’s major parties and the oldest one today—as they seemed somewhat liberal. The Hamlet-like personal tragedy of the leader, Sheikh Hasina, who lost much of her family in a brutal assassination, always elicited a sense of sympathy in me. However, sympathy only works if you don’t go around advertising your loss and sacrifice. Like many others, I became aware of the dynamics of sympathy politics. Despite this, I still wasn’t a loud critic of this government.
Then, there was a change. As the main opposition continued to boycott elections, words like voting and democracy began to lose their meaning. More and more opposition leaders and journalists were arrested. On a personal level, I was aware of all this, but I saw most of my peers remain careless. I was doing my bachelor’s then. Even though student life in Bangladesh is heavily politicized, the politics itself is so dirty that most students become detached from national politics. This detachment worked to the advantage of the Awami League, allowing them to remain in power for fifteen years and counting.
In 2018, things took a significant turn. I was about to start as a part-time freelance journalist, and several student deaths by road accidents within months spurred a massive protest demanding justice. The government’s reluctance to bring killer drivers to justice fueled the frustration of young people towards this government. As a student participant and a journalist, I witnessed the entire conflict. My photos were published internationally, and I was interviewed by several print and web media outlets. However, when it came to TV interviews, I was warned to be careful as the government had started arresting people. Some of them were arrested based on charges brought against them, others entirely without charges.
The protest died down after a few days, with the government promising to improve regulations. Many of us graduated and got jobs, postponing our rebellious voices. I started working as a full-time reporter at a pro-government TV station, where I witnessed the incompetence within the government firsthand. I can go on with the political selection of government institution heads. For example, the previous chief of the Bangladesh Police and the head of the Bangladesh Army both blew up in their faces with scandals and foreign sanctions. But that is a story I would like to talk about at a different time. Luckily, this experience further disillusioned me, and soon I left for a Master’s degree abroad.
To give you some context: Bangladesh is probably not a country whose politics concern most people studying world politics. However, it holds significant importance due to its fast-growing economy, contributions to sustainability, industrial, clothing, and ICT sectors, and its strategic location balancing geopolitics between India, China, and Western countries. The Bangladeshi diaspora also plays an important role in host countries worldwide, supporting professional roles in healthcare, education, financial services, and entrepreneurship. (1, 2)
Despite these potentials, Bangladesh often makes news with negative headlines. The political problem is a significant factor. Bangladesh has been stuck with the same government since 2009, with Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister. Her tenure, marked by economic growth, has also been marred by scandals, mass detentions, arrests of opposition leaders and critics, and controversial laws like the Digital Security Act of 2018, which they introduced soon after the student protest in 2018. (3) This is the law they used all these years to prosecute anyone based on their criticism of the government on social media. The media reported that from 2018 to 2021, 1,500 cases had been filed under this controversial law. The government faced backlash, and in response, they finally introduced a new law, the Cyber Security Act (CSA) 2023. Which international rights organization expressed their immediate concerns about, and with its current treatment, we saw that they were right. (4)
Now, being abroad, I am following the recent protests closely. The current unrest began over the job quota system, which reserves 30% of government positions for descendants of 1971 independence war veterans. This policy, initially meant to honor sacrifices, has turned into a tool of political patronage, frustrating many young job seekers. The recent reinstatement of these quotas sparked massive student-led protests.
Once begun, the protests rapidly spread throughout the country. The government’s response was equally quick and resulted in a considerable number of casualties brought about by the use of live ammunition, tear gas, and rubber bullets. Contrary to the government's claims, hospital sources reported that many of the dead and injured had wounds from bullets and shotgun pellets. (5) At the same time, the government has sought to cover up the brutality of its repression by cutting off access to the internet.
Student activists are alleging severe human rights abuses including the abduction and torture of protesters by police. One of the protest organizers, Nahid Islam who studies at Dhaka University, spoke about being blindfolded, beaten, and left unconscious by police. Other protest leaders and students have reportedly gone missing. (6) The government admits that some hospitalized student leaders were taken into custody, supposedly for their own safety. (7)
For a long time now, critics have accused Hasina of becoming more and more autocratic as mass arrests, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings amass. Unsurprisingly, the government consistently denies these allegations. It is questionable, however, under the given circumstances for how long they will be able to continue to do so. They are now facing unprecedented pressure from the international community as foreign diplomats express their concerns regarding the violent repression of the protests. And to make matters worse, vehicles with the UN logo were spotted carrying gun-bearing soldiers during intervening in the protests in Dhaka. The government explained that they forgot to remove the logo. (8)
Responding to the escalation of violence and the increasing international pressure, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh ruled that the job quotas be reduced from 30% to 5%. (9) The government accepted the Court's ruling and has, to some extent, eased the curfew they had imposed when the unrest began.
What I can see so far is that the government’s response is aimed at maintaining the status quo. They continue to use violence to silence the student protesters' voices. One of my friend’s brothers was taken into custody and later charged by the police. His family received no news about his whereabouts for 19 hours and was not informed on whether charges would be raised against him. In secret online groups that I have access to, images and rumors of abductions, detentions, and phone checks are circulating. Dhaka's student neighborhoods are exposed to raids at night. All these factors are contributing to the still tangible public anger and discontent.
At this point, the protests have gone beyond the initial demand for a quota reform. Students have drafted a list of demands which includes the resignation of important ministers, the sacking of police officers who were and are involved in the violence against protesters, compensation for the families of the killed and injured, and a ban on the pro-government student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). (10)
The government’s refusal to apologize for the violence remains a crucial point. Sheik Hasina’s government blames opposition parties for the unrest which is a common tactic to deflect responsibility. It is, however, in no way credible, as the people who took to the streets never cared about politics before but are now driven to action by sheer frustration and injustice. Thus, despite the government’s efforts to dodge responsibility and return to business as usual, the protests have highlighted the need for the concerns of Bangladesh's youth to be heard. The quota issue served merely as a spark that led to Bangladesh's people voicing frustrations that run much deeper. These frustrations are brought about by stagnant job growth, high youth unemployment, and economic challenges made worse by global factors like the Russia-Ukraine war and post-pandemic economics.
As someone who is deeply invested in these events, I hope that the protesters' demands for justice and accountability will finally lead to positive and lasting change in Bangladesh. The government needs to address the concerns of its citizens and ensure that the voices of the youth are heard and respected.
I cannot predict what the future holds for my beloved country, lacking the expertise of a political expert. But if there is one thing that I have learned from studying the history of my people, it is that we are loyal to no ruler, only to the land. Bangladesh has been the home of rebellious spirits for thousands of years; its people have ousted hundreds of kings, stopped foreign invasions, and kicked out colonizers. I am certain that this fight which was sparked by the quota is not going to stop there: The people will take what is rightfully theirs.
Written by Mahmudun Nabi.
Cover photo by Rownak Shahriar Ruhan. The protest sign reads: “Let’s break the shackle of quota.”
References
(1) Diaspora Ministerial Conference International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG). 18-19 June 2013. Diasporas and Development: Bridging Between Societies and States (Background Paper), accessible here.
(2) Rizve, Saqlain (2024) "Bangladesh's Tough Tightrope Walk Between India and China", The Diplomat (17 July 2024), accessible here.
(3) Riaz, Ali (2021) "How Bangladesh's Digital Security Act Is Creating a Culture of Fear", Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (9 December 2021), accessible here.
(4) Rahman, Nadia (2023) "Bangladesh: Government must remove draconian provisions from the Draft Cyber Security Act", Amnesty International (31 August 2023), accessible here.
(5) Paul, Ruma & Tora Agarwala (2024) "Bangladesh protests quelled but anger, discontent remain", Reuters (26 July 2024), accessible here.
(6) Anbarasan, Ethirajan & Tom McArthur (2024) "Bangladesh court scraps job quotas after deadly unrest, BBC Bangla (21 July 2024), accessible here.
(7) Jones, Timothy (2024) "Bangladesh: Protest leaders held 'for their own security'", Deutsche Welle (27 July 2024), accessible here.
(8) Paul, Ruma & Shivam Patel (2024) "Bangladesh says it forgot to remove UN logos from vehicles as it contained unrest", Reuters (25 July 2024), accessible here.
(9) Stambaugh, Alex, Manveena Suri & Chris Liakos (2024) "Bangladesh's top court rolls back most government job quotas after violent protests", CNN (21 July 2024), accessible here.
(10) Rahman, Shaikh Azizur (2024) "Bangladesh faces demand for justice over 'unlawful killings' during student protests", South China Morning Post (26 July 2024, accessible here.