Key Takeaway:

• Ministers overlook their words regarding arrest, torture of the protesters
• Indifferent to disclose exact number of death during movement
• ICT Minister uttered two-tongued words about shutting down internet
• Government announces Mourning Day without taking action against killers
• Government yet to take any feasible policy to bounce back the students to classroom
• Violation of Laws, Constitution and Human Rights

Currently, Bangladesh is witnessing one of its most crucial crises since its inception, with widespread violations of laws, the constitution, and human rights during the ongoing quota reform movement. To tackle the situation, policymakers have announced curfews and deployed the Army across the country. According to various news outlets, more than two hundred people have been killed, including a journalist, with over two-thirds being students. Additionally, over ten thousand individuals have been detained nationwide by law enforcement agencies. Many teachers have termed these events the "July Massacre."

The student community is in a devastating condition, while their melancholic parents are going from one police station to another, seeking even the slightest information about their children. In these tumultuous conditions, government policymakers have been displaying inconsistent behavior in resolving the existing issues. There is little congruence between their words uttered to the media and their actions. To the people of this nation, their words appear to contradict their deeds.

Ministers overlook their words regarding arrest, torture of the protesters

In a statement issued on July 29th, the country's ruling party Awami League General Secretary and Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, Obaidul Quader, said that law enforcement agencies are arresting students based on specific evidence of their involvement in acts of sabotage and terror during the recent quota reform movement.

"Only those directly involved in terrorism and violence are being arrested based on specific information," reads the statement.

However, in reality, numerous people who were not involved with the movement have been detained.

On July 19, Shihab, an 18-year-old Higher Secondary Certificate examination candidate and student of the capital's Kabi Nazrul Government College, was going to purchase groceries for his family. During his short journey, he was wounded when a bullet hit him near the capital's Matuail Medical Hospital. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. On July 24, doctors released him after his physical condition improved. Just before leaving the hospital, police from Shahbagh Station arrested him on charges of involvement in the quota reform movement and sabotage.

Elas Mahmud, a Sub-Inspector of Shahbagh Police Station, told reporters that Shihab has been placed before the court.

However, Shihab's uncle, Liaqat Ali, strongly asserted that Shihab was not involved in any agitation or sabotage. He claimed the police had filed a false case against him.

Apart from this teenager, there are hundreds of similar cases.

So far, at least 10,155 people, including students, opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jamaat-E-Islami, and Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders and activists, have been arrested in a total of 872 cases filed across the country over the last two weeks. These arrests were made during combined raids by Police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and secret agencies at night.

Furthermore, law enforcement agencies have detained the leaders of the movement in the name of security, not even allowing them to talk with their parents due to this so-called "security" measure.

On the afternoon of July 26, some plainclothes individuals picked up three coordinators of the anti-discrimination students' movement, the platform of the quota reform movement: Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud, and Abu Baker from Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in the capital. The following day, Dhaka Metropolitan Police picked up two more key coordinators, Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah. On July 28, one of the female coordinators, Nusrat Tabassum, was taken into DB custody.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal later told reporters that they were picked up for their security and had not been arrested yet.

The next day, the parents of these detainees went to the Detective Branch to meet them but were not allowed to do so. They later spoke to the media.

Momtaz Begum, mother of Nahid Islam, said that she and her fellow guardians do not believe their sons were brought to the DB office "for their own safety," as the detectives have not said anything like that, or indeed anything at all, to them after they went there.

"I want my son to be returned to us. We want every child to be returned to their respective parents," she said.

"How can someone be safer in police custody than with his family? DB says they are keeping our children for security reasons. Children are safe with their parents. What security does the DB office have?" they questioned.

"My son is safe with me, not at the DB office," Momtaz said.

In addition to this, Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud said that maximum security will be provided to the agitators and arrangements will be made to ensure that the students are not harassed.

However, the agitators are facing a contradictory reality. One of the coordinators, Umama Fatema, said, "The government has done injustice, killed people indiscriminately, and students have to live under harassment."

"How can a government show such ridiculous behavior?" she questioned.

Indifferent to disclose exact number of deaths during movement 

Almost two weeks have passed, and the government has shown lack of interest to disclose the exact number of the people who had been killed during the ongoing quota reform movement across the country. However, on 29 July, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that a total of 150 people were killed in different parts of the country during the recent quota reform movement and the following day he said that the number may increase further.

This announcement has received much criticism claiming that the minister depicted the inappropriate death toll. Protesters claimed that more than 266 people have been killed across the country.

Besides, BBC Bangla investigations have confirmed that this figure is 208 who have been killed in the movement,  most of them died after piercing the bullet.

ICT Minister uttered two-tongued words about shutting down internet 

Bangladesh was completely disconnected from the world as the people were not able to get access to mobile internet connection since the evening of 17th July as massive clashes broke out across the country centering the quota reform movement. Although there were poor signals in terms of broadband internet, this only option was completely shut at around 9:00 pm on 18 July. 

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the Minister of state for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology said that internet service across the country has been disrupted due to fire at the data center and burning of cable of ISP. It will take time for repair.

In reality, different investigations, conducted by renowned news outlets of the county proved the minister's words as completely two-tongued as no evidence has been found to set fire at the data center and the burning of cable of ISP. 

According to an investigation of Daily Prothom Alo, one of the leading newspapers in Bangladesh, on 18 July an International Internet Gateway (IIG) received an instruction from Bangladesh officials at around 8:48pm to shut the internet. 

After the shutdown of broadband, the issue of Khawaja Tower fire was brought to the daylight. It was said the fire that had broken out in Mohakhali, Dhaka, was disrupting the internet services.On 18 July, the disaster management building in Mohakhali was set on fire. Khawaja Tower is beside it and there was equipment from internet service providers there but on 20 July, it was found that Khawaja Tower was not set on fire.

On 27 July, the minister at an event said the government had not shut the internet. 70 percent of ISPR is kept at the three data centres in Mohakhali. Data of 18 IIG of total 34 is hosted in these three centres. After two days, they came to know that some submarine cables in Kanchpur on Dhaka-Chattagram road were on the surface, and those were burned down.

Later on 26 October 2023, Khawaja Tower in Mohakhali caught fire. The internet in the country was not shut at the time, but a little bit slow.

However, after five days, broadband internet was resumed on a limited scale on 23 July. Mobile internet service resumed at 3:00pm on July 28, but services including Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and TikTok were shut down. Ignoring the shut down directives, mass people of the country have been using all sorts of social media tools by using alternative gateway via VPN. 

Last not but least, despite his announcement to shut down popular social media, the minister is constantly sharing posts on his Facebook profile.

However, on 31 July afternoon, the government removed the restrictions on using social media platforms, namely Facebook, WhatsApp in a limited scale and it may take 24 to 48 hours more to resume in full full-fledged. 

Government announces Mourning Day without taking action against killers

The Bangladeshi government on 30 July had announced a mourning day across the country for the people who were killed during the recent violence centring the quota reform movement. 

Besides, the government also urged to hold special prayers for the deceased in entire places of worship including mosques, temples, and churches and to wear black badges to mourn the deaths.

However, people  from all walks of the country, except the allies and associated organizations to the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, had refused to observe the mourning day and criticized the government as they did not take any feasible action against the killers. 

In spite of wearing black badges, mass people also included journalists, lawyers, politicians, student wings of political parties, and expatriate Bangladeshis, changed their profile pictures on various social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, using red color images following a call made by protesting students. 

Many men and women were seen joining protests in different places clad in red dresses, while some people also masked their faces and foreheads with red fabrics.

Government yet to take any feasible policy to bounce back the students to classroom 

The Student Movement Against Discrimination, a students’ platform of quota reform movement commenced their peaceful protest in early July in this year to reform the existing quota to enter government jobs where a total 56 percent of government jobs had been reserved for candidates, 30 percent for freedom fighters' families, 10 percent for women, 10 percent for people from underdeveloped districts, 5 percent for members of ethnic minority communities, and 1 percent for persons with disabilities. 

Later on July 21, the Appellate Division passed a verdict amid violent unrest centring quota reform movement, setting a total 7 percent quota whereas 5 percent for freedom fighters' 2 percent quota for ethnic minorities, transgender people and disabled people, leaving 93 percent of the government jobs based on applicants merit.

On Sunday, the Supreme Court scaled back the quotas. The 30 percent quota for veterans’ descendants was cut to 5 percent while limiting a 2 percent quota for ethnic minorities, transgender people and disabled people, leaving 93 percent of the jobs based on merit. Two days later, The cabinet division issued a circular in this regard.

In the meantime, the peaceful protests turned into violence on July 15 after leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), ruling party backed Awami League directly attacked the peaceful protesters on Dhaka University campus, the attack left more than 53 people including female students seriously injured. Consequently, the University Grant Commission asked to shut down all the universities and the government announced to close all kinds of educational institutions in the country. 

While the government accepted protesters' early demand of reforming the total quota system, they have placed a new nine points charter of demand after around 200 hundred agitators were killed and more than three thousands were detained across the country. 

There nine points charter of demands are: PM Sheikh Hasina must publicly apologise for the mass killings of students;Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, and Law Minister Anisul Haque must resign from the cabinet and the party; Police officers present at the sites where students were killed must be dismissed; Vice chancellors of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar and Rajshahi universities must resign;

The police and the BCL members who attacked the students and those who instigated the attacks must be arrested; Families of the killed and injured must be compensated; All party-affiliated student politics, including “terrorist organization” BCL, should be banned and student councils must be established instead; All educational institutions and halls of residence must be reopened; and Guarantees must be provided that no academic or administrative harassment of protesters will take place.

The coordinators of the movement said that they would continue their movement until they meet these nine points demand and after that they would bounce back to the classroom.

Without taking any feasible steps to bring back the students to the classroom, government is conducting desperate blocked raid to households across the country to capture agitators while around 10,155 people, including students, opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-E-Islami, Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders and activists, have been arrested across the country since last 14 days. 

Apart from these, the law enforcement agencies are not allowing protesters to gather in the street to continue their movement. The teachers, concerned citizens, parents, lawyers, journalists have criticized this drive as “destructive” and also said that it could trigger the movement on a larger scale.   

In an interview to BBC Bangla, Professor Tanjimuddin Khan, a Dhaka University said that the mistrust created from this crisis, the government should try to eliminate the mistrust and bring back the trust in the people. 

“Rather than doing that, they are increasing mistrust. As a result the whole situation has become paranormal and consequently it has created the atmosphere of war in the country,” said the professor. 

Violation of Laws, Constitution and Human Rights

Different lawyers have expressed their concern over ongoing countrywide raids, disappearance, mass arrest and killing incidents conducted by law enforcement agencies which is a complete violation of existing laws, contradicting the country’s constitution and also human rights.

According to the directives issued by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in 2016,  law enforcement officials are compelled to identify themselves before arresting an individual and inform the next of kin within 12 hours. Besides, arrests cannot be made in plainclothes, and the arrested must be allowed to contact their relatives and seek legal aid.

Till July 30, at least 10,155 people have been arrested across the country. But, the horrible matter is that the arrested family members and lawyers have claimed the suspects were picked up by civil dressed officials, even without any kind of arrest warrant from the court which is a complete violation of the constitution of the country. They were not sent before court within 24 hours and many of them subjected to medieval torture. 

Maria Nur, wife of former DUCSU vice-president Nurul Haque Nur, told media that those who picked up Nur did not disclose their identity.  He informed the court that he was physically abused throughout that time to the point that he was unable to walk on his own.  

Another instance is the six quota reform coordinators who were detained by the DMP's Detective Branch (DB). Between Friday and Sunday, all of them—two of whom were receiving treatment at the time—were taken up. Besides, Arif Sohel, a coordinator of the quota reform movement from Jahangirnagar University was traceless after 36 hours of detention by the law enforcement agencies.   

Then there is the example of Hasnatul Islam Faiyaz, a 17-year-old student, who was brought before the court bound by ropes and put on a seven-day remand that was subsequently lifted.

In an apparent attempt to clear themselves of responsibility, many also took issue with the police's fabrication of facts in the First Information Report (FIR) on Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed, which stands in stark contrast to widely distributed video footage.

Besides, on July 30, parents of the protesters were supposed to hold a programme in front of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital in support of the movement, was barred by the Police which is complete violation of article 11 of the human rights act. 

However, teachers from various universities across the country called for an immediate end to the harassment of students as well as "mass arrests".

From a rally, organized by University Teachers Network, an united platform of public and private teachers, Nasir Uddin Ahmed, an associate professor of English at Jagannath University, criticized the police for filing cases against students and urged the authorities to cease these practices, reopen the universities, and allow students to return to their studies.