By Isolde Doubell
Over the past three weeks, student protests in Bangladesh have rattled the nation and led to widespread unrest throughout the country. These demonstrations initially started as a protest against the quota system on government jobs for veterans. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader and father of the current prime minister, Sheik Hasina, created the quota system which reserves 30% of government jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The quota was abolished in 2018 but was recently reinstated by a court order in June. By Friday, 20 July, the whole nation was affected by the unrest that turned into a regime protest movement and left hundreds of people injured, many dead, and more than 500 arrested. Bangladesh’s economy has suffered since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the once strong garment export industry has floundered. Inflation has risen and nearly 40% of young Bangladeshis are unemployed. Government jobs are seen as one of the few means of secure employment, and the quota system makes it difficult to obtain a job on merit.
Political analysts said the current wave of protests is a direct response to prolonged repression under the authoritarian regime of 76-year-old prime minister Sheik Hasina and her Awami League party, which has ruled unchallenged since 2009. In January, Hasina won a fifth term in power after an election that was boycotted by most of the opposition parties and widely documented as rigged, with tens of thousands of her political opponents jailed. Pierre Prakash, the Asia director of the International Crisis Group said, “With no real alternative at the ballot box, discontented Bangladeshis have few options besides street protests to make their voices heard.”
Pro-government student groups and police were accused of instigating violence by firing teargas, rubber bullets and sound grenades at the demonstrators. According to Prothom Alo, the country’s highest circulation daily media, at least 174 people were killed in the space of six days, and at least 532 people have been arrested in Dhaka, according to the police. A nationwide curfew was imposed and access to social media has been restricted since 18 July after the telecommunications minister, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, said it had been “weaponised as a tool to spread rumours, lies and disinformation”. The situation was aggravated when the prime minister referred to the students protesting as “Razakars,” a derogatory slur referring to those who supported Pakistan during the war of independence in 1971. Her comment angered student protesters, who accused Hasina of authoritarianism and said that students outside the quota categories are not any less patriotic or deserving of merit. Protesters invaded the state-run broadcaster, setting it alight, as well as stormed a jail in Narsingdi, a district just north of the capital on Friday, freeing the hundreds of inmates before setting the facility on fire.
On Sunday the Supreme Court directed the government to cut the job quotas for families of independence fighters to 5% from 30%. The remaining 5% of jobs still subject to quotas are for people from so-called ‘backward groups’ and the disabled. However, the students and protesters are not relenting, seeking the lifting of the curfew, release of detainees, reopening of the universities, and accountability for the lives lost. The communication blackout is also still in place and according to the government will remain so until the storm has passed.
The protests are reminiscent of the Arab Spring protests that spread across the Middle East and North Africa in December 2010 and throughout 2011. Similar to the Arab Spring, it takes just one issue—in this case, the quota system—to become the final straw that breaks the camel’s back, revealing the general discontentment of the public that has been building up over a long time. From a Christian perspective, one can pray that the thought process and reflections that led people to question and ultimately oppose their government will also lead them to question and reevaluate their faith. This could be the start of an awakening in Bangladesh where 99% of the population are considered unreached with the Gospel. At the same time, for the small Christian population in Bangladesh, where Muslims make up 90% of the population, the situation might create an opportunity to show God’s love to those who have lost family or friends or who have been injured or to reach out to people who are disillusioned with the current regime. Bangladesh is ranked 26th on Open Doors’ World Watch list of countries where Christians face significant persecution. Christians form less than one percent of the 170 million population and are persecuted, even more so if they form part of an ethnic minority group. The Church can thus pray that God will use this situation for good, in this highly unreached nation.
Please join us in praying for the following:
- For the Bangladesh government and the protesters to resolve the remaining conflicts peacefully with dialogue and not with violence.
- For the Bangladeshi Christians for boldness and wisdom at this time in how to reach out with truth and love.
- For people to be open to the Gospel.
We have the privilege of supporting a family who reaches out with the love of Christ to the people living in the slums of Dhaka.
If you would like to donate towards this family, please visit our donate page on our website (https://incontextinternational.org/donate/) and use BANGLADESH as reference.
For more information, email jeremiah@incontextinternational.org
