UPDATE - Bangladesh premier tried to walkback ‘razakar’ comment that triggered student protests

ADDS STATEMENTS BY PRIME MINISTER, OPPOSITION LEADER; CHANGES HEADER, DECK, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina tried to walkback her "razakar" comment on Friday -- a remark that triggered mass student demonstrations against a quota for public jobs.

"I did not call the students razakars. My comment was distorted," Hasina said during a visit to state television BTV which was burned last week by protestors.

Students launched protests in early July, demanding reform of the country’s quota system for government jobs.

The protests turned into a massive movement after Hasina allegedly labeled protesters "razakar" -- a term that refers to traitors who fought for Pakistani forces during the war of independence in 1971.

“Razakar's grandchildren will get jobs, instead of the freedom fighter’s grandchildren?" Hasina asked at a July 14 news conference.

The first fatalities during protests were reported July 17.

Her government was forced to reduce the quota from 56% to 7%, including 5% for progeny of war veterans, after the country’s top court issued a ruling on Sunday.

The government moved fast last week to snap internet access, imposed a curfew and deployed the military last Friday.

The curfew will continue until Saturday, with intermittent relaxation, as soldiers patrol streets in the nation’s capital of Dhaka, which was the center of the protests where most of the 204 deaths were reported, according to national newspaper Prothom Alo.

Thousands have been injured while the government has jailed 5,500 people, most from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami parties.

Broadband internet was restored Wednesday.

- Claims and counterclaims

Hasina appealed to the nation on Friday to help her government find those "involved in mass destruction and arson attacks."

"Know the real truth. Find those who are involved in these (destruction of state properties), wherever they are in Bangladesh. Cooperate in punishing them," she said.

She blamed the BNP and Jamaat parties for having "carried out rampages across the country to damage the country's development as well as tarnish the country's image abroad."

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that using soldiers to "suppress the righteous movement of students is never acceptable."

He demanded the "immediate withdrawal" of the curfew and the army, and expressed "deep concern about the arrest and torture of ordinary people."

"The government is arbitrarily arresting the leaders and activists of opposition parties including BNP to hide their terrorist activities and failures," he said.

- ⁠Student leaders ‘abducted’

Meanwhile, police picked up three main student leaders.

Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder were picked up by plainclothes officials from the Gonoshasthya hospital, according to Islam’s sister, Fatema Tashim.

Tasnim told Anadolu that there were six individuals who “forcefully abducted” the three coordinators from Gonoshasthya hospital.

They did not disclose their identities, she said.

"They aggressively demanded that all three accompany them," said Tasnim. "They were still receiving treatment, with their intravenous saline drips in place, when they were forcibly taken away."

Anadolu contacted two officials from the detective branches but they did not provide a comment.

An official from the Dhanmondi Police Station, under the jurisdiction of Gonoshasthaya hospital, told Anadolu: “If the cops went to the hospital in plainclothes, it is because of their (protestors) safety, nothing else.”

Also, at least three journalists were killed during the demonstrations.

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday demanded that authorities investigate the killings of Hasan Mehedi, Md. Shakil Hossain and Abu Taher Md Turab.

*Faisal Mahmud contributed to this report from Dhaka