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Diplomats in Dhaka are questioning Bangladeshi authorities’ deadly response to massive student protests after the country’s foreign minister blamed recent violence on demonstrators, diplomatic officials said on Monday.
What began as a movement against politicized quotas for admissions to government jobs has grown into one of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s term, with police and hospitals reporting at least 163 dead in the clashes, according to AFP. Foreign Minister Hassan Mahmood summoned ambassadors to a briefing on Sunday and showed them a 15-minute video that sources said highlighted the damage caused by protesters.
But a senior diplomatic official in Dhaka, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Monday that US Ambassador Peter Haass said Mahmood’s version of events was one-sided.
“I’m surprised you didn’t show footage of police officers shooting at unarmed protesters,” the source quoted Haas as telling the minister.
Mahmoud also did not respond to questions from UN representatives about the alleged use of armored personnel carriers and helicopters with UN markings – weapons owned by the country’s military – to quell the protests, the source added.
The meeting comes after Bangladesh’s Supreme Court cut hiring quotas for highly coveted government jobs that have been the focus of protests.
The decision cuts the number of reserved jobs from 56 percent of all positions to 7 percent, with the majority still going to the descendants of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
While the decision means a significant reduction in the controversial “freedom fighters” category, it falls short of protesters’ demands for its complete abolition. Critics say the quota is used to allocate public jobs to loyalists of Hasina’s ruling Awami League.
“We will not stop our protests unless the government issues an order reflecting our demands,” a spokesman for Students Against Discrimination, the main group organising the demonstrations, told AFP.
Hasina, 76, has ruled the country since 2009 and won a fourth straight election in January in a vote with no real opposition.
Since the crackdown on protests began, some demonstrators have said they will not be satisfied unless Hasina’s government steps down.
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