Bangladesh restores telecommunications and relaxes curfew as protests dwindle

Student demonstrators have given government a new 48-hour ultimatum to meet their demands

An almost-deserted call centre in Dhaka on Tuesday, closed by the nationwide curfew and internet shutdown. AFP

Bangladesh partially restored communication services on Wednesday, although internet connections were slow and social media remained suspended.

Several news websites remained blocked days after the country’s deadliest student protests that left more than 170 people dead.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government had imposed a nationwide curfew and an internet and telecommunication blackout last week following nationwide protests.

Tens of thousands of students across Bangladesh have been staging demonstrations for weeks demanding to cancel the scheme that granted some 54 per cent of highly-sought after government jobs to specific groups – including to children of veterans from the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

The country has mostly been calm since Sunday when the Supreme Court cut the quota.

“After six days, there is only moderate telecommunications network connectivity, but social media is down and is expected to be down for next few days,” a Dhaka-based journalist told The National.

Websites for the Bangladesh Ministry of Home Affairs and Foreign Ministry and newspapers such as the Dhaka Tribune were also not available on Wednesday.

Curfews will be relaxed for seven hours on Wednesday and offices will also be open from 11am to 3pm, Reuters reported.

Residents of the capital Dhaka could be seen out on the streets on Wednesday morning as they made their way to their offices, with public buses operating in some places – in sharp contrast to the violent clashes in the city last week.

The protests began in June after the High Court reinstated a quota system that was first brought in 1972 by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of Ms Hasina, who led his country’s fight for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Thousands of protesters and fighters were killed in the war.

The Supreme Court has now ruled that 93 per cent of jobs will be now filled on merit, while setting aside seven per cent for specific categories.

These categories comprise five per cent for the children of fighters in Bangladesh’s war of independence and one per cent each for small tribal groups and people with disabilities.

More than 170 protesters, mostly students, and several police officers, have been killed in clashes, according to a AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals.

Demonstrations had intensified after Ms Hasina likened protesters to “Razakars” – the Bangladeshis who collaborated with Pakistan during the country's 1971 independence war.

She is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to stamp out dissent.

Protesting students have given the government a fresh 48-hour ultimatum to fulfil four other conditions of an eight-point list of demands and said they will announce next steps once that period ends on Thursday.

“We want the government to meet our four-point demand, including restoration of internet, withdrawal of police from campuses and opening universities,” protest co-ordinator Nahid Islam told Reuters.

The country’s main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has backed the protesters but denies any role in the violence.

Several countries in the region have evacuated citizens from the violence-hit nation over the last few days, including India and Malaysia. The US State Department has warned Americans not to travel to Bangladesh.