Meanwhile, around 300 Indian students have returned home from Bangladesh following intensified student-youth agitations against the announcement of reservations in government jobs.
Bangladesh authorities have imposed a nationwide curfew after riots in the capital, Dhaka, this week left approximately 104 dead and nearly 2,500 seriously injured. Reports indicate that police fire caused more than half of the reported deaths.
On Friday, Bangladeshi student protesters stormed a prison and freed hundreds of inmates as police struggled to control the unrest. Huge rallies in Dhaka continued despite a police ban on public gatherings.
The clashes have spread beyond Dhaka, with 26 districts reporting incidents.
In response to the situation, UN human rights chief Volker Turk told AFP news agency that the attacks on student protesters were “shocking and unacceptable.”
Near-daily marches this month have called for an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan. Critics argue the scheme benefits children of pro-government groups supporting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has ruled since 2009 and secured her fourth consecutive election victory in January in a vote criticized for lack of genuine opposition.
Rights groups accuse Hasina’s government of misusing state institutions to entrench its power and suppress dissent, including through extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.
This week, her administration ordered schools and universities to close indefinitely as police intensified efforts to restore law and order.
