More than 150 students have been injured in Bangladesh during clashes at a university campus, a sign of serious discord between groups instrumental in fomenting a national revolution last year.

Tuesday (February 18) afternoon’s clashes began after the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) sought to recruit students at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology in the country’s southwest.

Also Read | Bangladesh’s student movement and Hasina’s exit

That sparked a confrontation with campus members of Students Against Discrimination, a protest group that led the uprising that ousted autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina last August.

At least 50 people were taken for treatment after the skirmish, Khulna police officer Kabir Hossain told AFP.

“The situation is now under control, and an extra contingent of police has been deployed,” he added.

Communications student Jahidur Rahman told AFP that those hospitalised had injuries from thrown bricks and “sharp weapons”, and that around 100 others had suffered minor injuries.

Footage of the violence showing rival groups wielding scythes and machetes, along with injured students being carted to hospital for treatment, was widely shared on Facebook.

Both groups blamed the other for starting the violence, with the BNP student wing chief Nasir Uddin Nasir accusing members of Islamist political party Jamaat of agitating the situation to force a confrontation.

Jamaat activists “created this unwarranted clash”, he told AFP.

Local student Obayed Ullah told AFP that the BNP had defied a decision by the campus to remain free of activities by established political parties.

He added that there was “no presence” of Jamaat on campus.

The incident provoked outrage among students elsewhere in the country, with a protest rally held late Tuesday night to condemn the BNP’s youth wing at Dhaka University.

Students Against Discrimination launched protests last year that toppled Bangladesh’s former government and chased ex-leader Sheikh Hasina into exile after 15 years of iron-fisted rule.

Also Read | UN Human Rights Office report points out human rights violation under both Hasina and interim government

Activists from the BNP joined with student protesters in the final days of Ms. Hasina’s tenure, defying a bloody crackdown by security forces that killed hundreds.

The BNP is widely expected to win fresh elections slated to be held by the middle of next year under the supervision of the South Asian country’s current caretaker administration.

Student leaders have meanwhile struggled to parley their success in engineering Ms. Hasina’s fall into a durable political force.

Dhaka:

At least 30 suspects were detained in Bangladesh’s Chattogram city for their alleged involvement in the killing of a lawyer and attacking security personnel over the arrest of a prominent Hindu community leader, police said on Wednesday.

Assistant public prosecutor Saiful Islam, who was in his early 30s, was killed on Tuesday during clashes between security personnel and followers of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, spokesperson for Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote.

The violence erupted after Chinmoy Das was denied bail and sent to jail by the Chattogram’s Sixth Metropolitan Magistrate court in a sedition case.

Police said Islam was critically wounded in the clashes and rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead.

According to a police spokesman, 30 people were detained in the port city of Chattogram for their alleged involvement in Islam’s killing and attacking law enforcement agency personnel.

“We are examining their role in the killing of Advocate Saiful Islam and attacking personnel of the law enforcement agencies yesterday (Tuesday) during and following the production of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in the court,” he said.

The spokesperson said the detained individuals would be arrested for trial after initial investigations and more suspects could be arrested if their involvement was found.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police’s additional commissioner Kazi Mohammad Tarek Aziz said the suspects were detained in joint raids overnight by army and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops and police.

Interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday condemned the murder of the lawyer, urging people to keep calm and stay away from participating in any untoward activities.

He directed the authorities to conduct an investigation into the killing and take appropriate legal measures, according to a statement issued by his press wing.

Yunus also ordered the law enforcement agencies to step up security in the port city, including in all the vulnerable neighbourhoods.

“The interim government is committed to ensuring and upholding communal harmony in Bangladesh at any cost,” he said.

Chinmoy Das was arrested from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday as he was about to fly to Chattogram to join a rally.

After the court denied him bail and ordered his imprisonment on Tuesday, Chinmoy Das’ followers started to protest, disrupting the movement of the prison van carrying him. Police and eyewitnesses said at least 37 people, including 10 policemen, were wounded after police and BGB troops used batons and sound grenades to disperse the demonstrators who clashed with the security personnel.

Chinmoy Das was also a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which recently expelled him. ISKCON Bangladesh on Tuesday condemned his arrest.

A case was filed against Chinmoy Das and 18 others on October 30 at Chattogram’s Kotwali Police Station leader on the complaint of a leader of former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which accused them of disrespecting the national flag in the city’s Laldighi Maidan during a rally of the Hindu community on Oct 25.

Chinmoy Das’ lawyers said they would file a case in a higher court, challenging the Chattogram court’s order.

Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has also protested Chinmoy Das’ arrest and demanded his immediate release.

Meanwhile, Nahid Islam, an adviser of the interim government, in a Facebook post late Tuesday night said, “The terrorists who killed Advocate Saiful Islam in Chattogram will certainly face strict punishment.” Nahid Islam, who is also a leader of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement that led to the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League regime on August 5, said the way “a lawyer was hacked to death by Chinmoy Krishna’s supporters is unprecedented”.

“The interim government has sincerely considered the demands of the minority community from the beginning. But Chinmoy Krishna Das was trying to create communal division by making false and provocative statements in various meetings… but the Bangladesh government will ensure maximum punishment through legal process for the Hinduvta terrorists,” he wrote.

Nahid Islam also criticised the “Indian media” over its reporting of incidents relating to Chinmoy Das’ arrest.

Chinmoy Das’ arrest has also ignited a diplomatic row between India and Bangladesh.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement on Tuesday noted with “deep concern” the arrest and denial of bail to Chinmoy Das and urged the Bangladeshi authorities to ensure the safety and security of Hindus and all minorities.

“This incident follows the multiple attacks on Hindus and other minorities by extremist elements in Bangladesh,” it said.

There are “several documented cases” of arson and looting of minorities’ homes and business establishments, as well as theft, vandalism and desecration of deities and temples in Bangladesh. “It is unfortunate that while the perpetrators of these incidents remain at large, charges should be pressed against a religious leader presenting legitimate demands through peaceful gatherings,” the statement said.

In response, Dhaka said the MEA statement was contrary to the spirit of friendship and understanding between the two neighbouring countries on a matter concerning the internal affairs of Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said the MEA statement did not “reflect the harmony that exists among the peoples of all faiths and the commitment and efforts of the government and the people in this regard”.

It said “with utter dismay and a deep sense of hurt” Dhaka noted that the issue of Chinmoy Das was “misconstrued by certain quarters” since he was arrested on “specific charges”.

The interim government’s home affairs adviser retired Lieutenant General Mohammad Jahangir Alam said he suspect that the unrest over Chinmoy Das’ arrest was instigated by parties at home and abroad.

“There could be instigations from both home and abroad. Some parties have been banned. They could also be involved in the instigation,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a police function in northeastern Sylhet on Wednesday.

The interim government last month banned Bangladesh Chhatra League – the student wing of Hasina’s Awami League party – under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Bangladesh’s minority Hindus, which constitute only about 8 per cent of the 170 million population, have faced over 200 attacks in 50-odd districts since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dhaka:

Bangladesh on Sunday reopened all educational institutions, including universities, secondary schools and colleges, across the country after more than a month of closure due to violence centring the student-led protests that led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The educational institutions in Bangladesh were closed indefinitely on July 17 to ensure the safety of students in the wake of clashes that erupted during the recent movement demanding reform of the job quota system.

The Ministry of Education on Thursday issued a directive to reopen the institutions under its jurisdiction. All the educational institutions reopened on Sunday, after a month of closure.

According to Somoy Television, a Bengali news channel based in Dhaka, “All concerned have been asked to take necessary steps to resume academic activities in all the educational institutions from August 18 following the instruction of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus,” a notification signed by deputy secretary Mosammat Rahima Akhtar, said on August 15.

In the morning, school students in uniform were seen going to their institutions, many accompanied by guardians, the Daily Star reported.

Many points of Dhaka city are witnessing severe traffic congestion due to the reopening of educational institutions.

The working week is from Sunday to Thursday in Bangladesh.

Initially, classes were scheduled to resume on August 4 in all government primary schools, except in the 12 city corporations and Narsingdi municipality, but this was also postponed.

Meanwhile, the postponed Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations will be resumed from September 11.

According to the revised routine, the exams will be completed on October 23.

Classes at public universities have been suspended since July 1 when teachers went on strike in protest of a new pension scheme.

After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, the educational institutions were declared open on August 7, but the academic activities could not be resumed fully due to the low attendance of students.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indian students, who study in Bangladesh, in a bus upon their arrival at Akhaura check post of the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura on Saturday, following protests against government job quotas in Bangladesh.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Since the beginning of the clashes between students and security forces in Bangladesh, India has evacuated 978 nationals who were studying in various institutions in Bangladesh, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said.

The evacuation is part of security measures that the Indian officials in the High Commission in Dhaka and in the Assistant High Commissions are taking to ensure the safety of around 8,000 Indian students.

An MEA press note has informed that Indian officials are also assisting students from Nepal and Bhutan to leave Bangladesh as educational institutions have shut indefinitely in view of the ongoing clashes that have left at least 105 protesters dead.

Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X that around 800 Nepali students have been evacuated from Bangladesh by air or via land border posts.

Coordinating with airlines

Indian officials are coordinating with airline companies and the law enforcement officials in the violence-hit country to evacuate Indian nationals from Dhaka and Chittagoing airports. “Security escorts have also been arranged, where necessary, for their travel by road during repatriation through select land ports,” the MEA said in the press note. Officials said more students were crossing through land ports on Saturday evening.

Bangladesh continued to remain cut off from the world as the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blocked mobile internet as part of the crackdown against student protesters. Along with the internet facilities, major news outlets of the country like Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune have also continued to remain inaccessible.

The U.S. State Department has announced that the “situation is extremely volatile and unpredictable” adding that the “US Embassy Dhaka continues to offer only limited services at this time”.

“All but emergency consular services are cancelled until further notice. Mission personnel have been advised to shelter in place until further notice,” declared the US State Department in a Facebook post.

With the blocking of mobile internet and broadband services, freedom of expression has also come under a shadow prompting several international figures to comment on the deteriorated law and order situation in Bangladesh. Former US ambassador to Bangladesh William B. Milam has called upon the U.S. government and the international community “to make clear to the Bangladesh Government that it will be held accountable for its actions.”

Two journalists killed, several others injured

The violence between the protesters and the security forces continued on Saturday that left at least 30 journalists with serious injuries and at two journalists dead, said editor of Bhorer Kagoj Shyamal Datta to The Hindu while speaking over telephone. “The protest by the students has been taken over by the political opponents of the government and has turned into a war-like situation. We are expecting that the case on the quota system will come up in the Supreme Court on Sunday when a step towards dialogue will be taken,” said Mr. Datta.

Among many incidents that have taken place over the past few days, it is the attack on a prison in Narsingdi in the country that was most alarming, said Mr. Datta, while adding that hundreds of inmates escaped from the prison that included some hardened extremists.

The anti-quota movement has broadened with the support from civil society movements and NGOs like BRAC that have been providing relief to the students who came under attack from the police forces. Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC, had expressed sympathy with the protesters cautioning about trust deficit for Ms. Hasina’s government saying: “In these uncertain times, empathy and fellow feeling and direct dialogue was necessary, instead the students got sticks and kicks.”

Bangladesh on Friday announced the imposition of a curfew and the deployment of military forces after police failed to quell days of deadly unrest that has spread throughout the country.

This week’s clashes between student demonstrators and police have killed at least 105 people, according to an AFP count of victims reported by hospitals, and pose a momentous challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic government after 15 years in office.

“The government has decided to impose a curfew and deploy the military in aid of the civilian authorities,” Hasina’s press secretary Nayeemul Islam Khan told AFP.

He added that the curfew would take immediate effect.

Police in the capital Dhaka earlier took the drastic step of banning all public gatherings for the day — a first since protests began — in an effort to forestall more violence. 

“We’ve banned all rallies, processions and public gatherings in Dhaka today,” police chief Habibur Rahman told AFP, adding the move was necessary to ensure “public safety”.

That however did not stop another round of confrontations between police and protesters around the sprawling megacity of 20 million people, despite an internet shutdown aimed at frustrating the organisation of rallies.

“Our protest will continue,” Sarwar Tushar, who joined a march in the capital and sustained minor injuries when it was violently dispersed by police, told AFP. 

“We want the immediate resignation of Sheikh Hasina. The government is responsible for the killings.”

Student protesters stormed a jail in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi and freed its inmates before setting the facility on fire, a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“I don’t know the number of inmates, but it would be in the hundreds,” he added.

– ‘Shocking and unacceptable’ –

At least 52 people were killed in the capital on Friday, according to a list drawn up by the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and seen by AFP.

Police fire was the cause of more than half of the deaths reported so far this week, based on descriptions given to AFP by hospital staff. 

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the attacks on student protesters were “shocking and unacceptable”.

“There must be impartial, prompt and exhaustive investigations into these attacks, and those responsible held to account,” he said in a statement.

The capital’s police force earlier said protesters had on Thursday torched, vandalised and carried out “destructive activities” on numerous police and government offices.

Among them was the Dhaka headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which remains offline after hundreds of incensed students stormed the premises and set fire to a building.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP that officers had arrested Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, one of the top leaders of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). 

– ‘Symbol of a rigged system’ – 

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 say the scheme benefits children of pro-government groups that back Hasina, 76, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Hasina’s government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including by the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Her administration this week ordered schools and universities to close indefinitely as police stepped up efforts to bring the deteriorating law and order situation under control.

“This is an eruption of the simmering discontent of a youth population built over years,” Ali Riaz, a politics professor at Illinois State University, told AFP. 

“The job quotas became the symbol of a system which is rigged and stacked against them by the regime.”

– ‘Nation-scale’ internet shutdown –

Students say they are determined to press on with protests despite Hasina giving a national address earlier this week on the now-offline state broadcaster seeking to calm the unrest.

Nearly half of Bangladesh’s 64 districts reported clashes on Thursday, broadcaster Independent Television reported.

London-based watchdog NetBlocks said Friday that a “nation-scale” internet shutdown remained in effect a day after it was imposed.

“Metrics show connectivity flatlining at 10% of ordinary levels, raising concerns over public safety as little news flows in or out of the country,” it wrote on social media platform X. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Violent clashes broke out between students and security forces in Bangladesh last month over the newly reinstated reservation system for hiring in civil services. Around 64 people have been killed this week, according to news agency AFP and over 2,500 injured in the clashes.

The protests erupted after a High Court in Bangladesh reinstated the reservation of 30% government jobs for the family members of freedom fighters and veterns from 1971 War of Independance.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressed the nation on Wednesday hoping to calm the situation, however, the protestors set on fire the country’s state broadcaster building a day after her address.

Today, the proestors stormed and set on fire a jail in Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi, according to new agency AFP.

“The inmates fled the jail and the protesters set the jail on fire. I don’t know the number of inmates, but it would be in the hundreds,” a cop told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The Bangadesh Supreme Court has suspended the High Court’s order on reservation and is set to hear the government’s challenge on August 7.