Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has termed the High Court verdict illegal and has scaled back the contentious quota system for civil service job applicants. In its verdict, it has also urged student protesters to return to class. The prior decision of Bangladesh’s High Court led to nation wide clashes and the death of at least 133 people.
The unrest, fueled by discontent over the allocation of government jobs, has prompted the government to impose a strict curfew with “shoot-on-sight” orders across the country. The Internet and text message services in Bangladesh have been suspended since Thursday amid the protests, and universities and colleges have been closed since Wednesday.
The protests started in response to a verdict by the High Court on 5th of June which declared the 2018 government circular cancelling the 30 percent quota for freedom fighters’ descendants in government jobs, illegal. The quotas originally reserved 30% of positions in the civil service for the families of people who fought for independence from Pakistan in the so-called Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
