Tracking the roots of a student movement that changed a nation
On August 5, 2024, Sheikh Hasina, the now-resigned prime minister of Bangladesh fled Bangladesh for India. Prior to early August 2024, Hasina had been prime minister for 15 years. Hasina’s resignation came in the wake of countrywide protests led primarily by Bangladeshi students.
The unrest and resentment fueling this summer’s student movement in Bangladesh goes as far back as the nation’s formation in 1971.
After the Indian War of Independence concluded in 1947, the Indian subcontinent was partitioned into Pakistan and India. The nation of Pakistan consisted of West Pakistan and East Pakistan which went on to become Bangladesh after rising tensions led to the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971.
The country’s current government was formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sheikh Hasina’s father, and established a set of employment quotas for government jobs.
These quotas mandated that 30 per cent of the jobs go to veterans of the Bangladesh War of Independence, religious and ethnic minorities, underrepresented districts, and others. Merit-based government jobs were limited and in the firm minority.
The quota system was gradually reformed, and by 1985, merit-based positions for civil services rose to 45 per cent.
Sheikh Hasina started her first term as the prime minister in 1996 and in 1997 the quota for veterans of war was extended to the children of freedom fighters. In 2010, the quota was further extended to the grandchildren of the freedom fighters.
A petition challenging the legality of the quota system was rejected by the Bangladesh Supreme Court in 2018 and Sheikh Hasina, now serving her second premiership and third term, announced that she intended to keep the quota for descendants of the freedom fighters. This sparked the first student-led protests against the quota system leading to its abolition altogether – a decision that became effective in 2020.
In July 2024, The Supreme Court of Bangladesh reinstated the 30 per cent quota for descendants of freedom fighters, cancelling the 2018 reforms. This, coupled with rising unemployment rates, led to Hasina’s government electing to reinstate the quota system and sparked nationwide unrest.
Late this summer, students began to lead protests against Hasina’s quota system. The protests which started peacefully and divided in select areas of the country quickly spread nationwide due to the government’s violent response.
The government sought to suppress the protests and deployed its student wing to other factions to quell the movement. These groups resorted to using firearms and sharp weapons against peaceful demonstrators.
The government went on to deploy the police and other armed forces. They also instated a nationwide shoot-at-sight curfew. Schools and educational institutions were shut down indefinitely. As images of students and protestors being brutalized surfaced on the internet, an indefinite cutoff of calls and internet services was also announced.
As of August 2, there were 215 confirmed deaths, more than 20,000 injuries, and more than 11,000 arrests in various parts of the country.
UNICEF reported that at least 32 children were killed during the protests. Many more were injured and detained.
Former prime minister Hasina’s response to the unrest sparked further anger and discontent after she publicly called the movements anti-nationalist and terrorist claiming that the students were “Pakistanis” and that the protests had nothing to do with the quota system while the army continued to brutalize the students and other demonstrators.
The movement continued despite the curfew and the government’s violent response. Students began demanding a ban on the government’s student wing and the resignation of many government officials and accountability for the violence they perpetuated.
What began as peaceful demonstrations against unemployment and a corrupt quota system soon became representative of a civil movement against the authoritarian rule of the Bangladeshi government.
Amongst rising tensions and pressure from the protests, Hasina also eventually lost support from the army. Protestors decided to march in the thousands to Dhaka, the country’s capital, leading Hasina to resign and flee the country on August 5.
Celebrations were reported from many parts of the country at Hasina’s resignation. Students immediately began to take an active role in maintaining order in their country in the wake of the unrest.
Students were seen wearing their university IDs and visibility gear to direct traffic with sticks and umbrellas, as police were on strike and no longer enforcing traffic laws. Some students were also enforcing seatbelt and license regulations, while others were pulling over and inspecting vehicles of those they suspected to be former government officials attempting to smuggle riches.
Not only did they man roads, but students also helped usher in an interim government in Bangladesh led by Muhammad Yunus, the only Nobel laureate of the country, who will lead until the next general election takes place.
Not long after the protests settled in Bangladesh, the country faced another crisis in the form of massive floods.
The year has been particularly difficult for the residents of Bangladesh as well as the community of Bangladeshi students at the University of Regina. The Carillon extends its thoughts to every Bangladeshi student on campus and hopes for a better and more peaceful future for the country and its citizens.
Counselling for anyone going through a difficult time is available on campus and can be solicited at any time at uregina.ca/student/counselling/contactusform.html.
