Bangladesh forms committee to probe violence during student protests that resulted in 197 deaths

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – The Bangladeshi government has formed a judicial committee headed by a Supreme Court judge to investigate violence during student protests over the quota system in public sector jobs, which resulted in the deaths of 197 people.

Whoever is responsible for the unrest in the country since last week will be punished, vowed Mohammad A Arafat, the country's junior minister of information and broadcasting, while speaking to international media correspondents in the capital Dhaka.

Since Saturday, the Bangladeshi government has imposed a curfew and deployed troops across the country to quell protests.

However, on Wednesday, it was relaxed for several hours during the day to allow people to buy daily necessities.

At least 197 people were killed and thousands more injured during protests that erupted on July 16. However, the government has yet to release the official death toll, with Arafat saying the government is working to determine the exact number of people killed and injured.

Arafat claimed that a “third party” was involved in the protests that caused unrest across the country.

In response to a question about whether the government will take action if the pro-ruling party students' wing, the Bangladesh Students' League, is found guilty of attacking students protesting job quotas in government jobs, which ignited the protests to spread across universities, the junior minister refused to name any organization but assured that whoever was involved would face punishment.

Arafat, who was holding a press conference inside the state-owned Bangladesh Television (BTV) building, showed to the media persons destroyed rooms and equipment ravaged by arsonists on July 18.

This resembles a war zone, he remarked, adding, "We believe no students, but miscreants, have done this."

Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan blamed opposition parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as well as some militants, for the violence during the agitation for reform in government jobs quota.

"We will identify them one by one with all of our strength. They will face legal consequences. We will not back down to ensure it," the minister told reporters in Dhaka.

More than 800 people have been arrested in Dhaka in the past 24 hours, and over 3,000 across the country, in connection with violence during the protests, police said.

However, local media reported that the majority of them are opposition party members.

Earlier on Tuesday, student movement coordinators at a press conference in Dhaka issued a 48-hour ultimatum to restore order and reopen campuses across the country.

In response, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury said the current situation is unsuitable for the reopening of educational institutions.

Separately, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the junior minister for telecommunications, told reporters that broadband internet would be restored across the country on an experimental basis on Wednesday night, followed by mobile internet within the next week.

Social media remained inaccessible until Wednesday, with Palak blaming major social media platforms for failing to follow the country's laws and allowing the spread of disinformation that incited violence.