File photo of the mob violence in Bangladesh in July-August 2024
By Nava Thakuria*
After nearly a hundred young students were killed by the armed forces in Bangladesh in the ongoing quota stir, the country’s lone Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus today urged the international community including the United Nations to halt the murder of agitating Bangladeshi nationals across the South Asian nation.
Professor Yunus, known for his revolutionary banking and social business practices, faces several charges framed against him in Bangladesh.
“The nationwide killing spree of Bangladeshi students and other citizens must be prevented. I urge the global media outlets to come forward reporting the ground reality so that many precious lives can be saved,” he said.
Speaking to Global Bihari from Dhaka today, Yunus also insisted on quality television debates and pragmatic editorials over the turmoil, where even the “high school students become victims” as they joined the anti-quota movement that began on July 1, 2024, following a court order reinstating the reservation facility for the dependants of war veterans.
“Engulfed in a serious crisis, Bangladesh witnesses millions of students and others protesting nationals attacked by the police and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel leading to more than 200 deaths and 700 injuries, some of whom remain in serious health conditions,” Prof Yunus said, demanding that ‘there must be investigations into the killings that have taken place already’.
Though it began with a peaceful protest demonstration on the Dhaka University premises with a demand that the reservation quota for the dependents of freedom fighters’ families (who fought against the brutal Pakistani forces) in the government jobs be abolished, it spread quickly to other university campuses and cities against the Awami League-led government in Dhaka that achieved the fourth consecutive victory in the last national elections with no opposition candidates. Opposition forces joined the movement to make it a national outrage against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
Also read: Reporter among over 50 others killed in quota clashes in Dhaka
The government imposed a nationwide curfew with the shoot-at-sight order on July 20, 2024, and deployed military personnel to support the police and civilian authorities. The agitation turned violent following the aggression shown by the members of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Juba League (student and youth wing of ruling Awami League) on the agitators. Lately, the Supreme Court restricted the space for the reservation to freedom fighters’ families from 30 to 5 per cent. But the apex court did not scrap the reservation policy and hence it may not immediately quell the protest, as the students vowed to continue their movement until the particular quota was abolished.
“I urgently call on world leaders to do everything within their powers to end the violence against those who are exercising their rights to protest. The internet and telephone services have been restricted so it is unlikely that my fellow citizens will hear this appeal soon or be able to take their own initiatives. I urge the people of goodwill around the world to add their voices to my call to end this carnage so that we can get back to our mission to build a self-reliant, democratic, and peaceful Bangladesh,” concluded the octogenarian banker-turned-social thinker.
*Senior journalist
