India evacuated more than 4.5 thousand students from Bangladesh amid unrest, according to a press release from the Indian Foreign Ministry.
⠀
“To date, more than 4.5 thousand Indian students have returned to India,” the press release said.
⠀
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, citizens of Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan were also evacuated from Bangladesh. As noted, the Indian Embassy in Dhaka maintains regular contacts with local authorities to ensure the safety of Indian citizens.
⠀
Amid mass protests, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Sunday announced its decision on quotas for government jobs, reducing their number by three times. According to the court decision, candidates without quotas will be able to apply for 93% of government jobs. At the same time, 5% of positions in the civil service will remain reserved for children of war veterans, and 2% of positions will be allocated for people from a number of other categories. The court’s decision was made against the backdrop of a curfew imposed in Bangladesh and a ban on mobile networks and the Internet.
⠀
Protests over a quota system for government jobs have been ongoing in Bangladesh for weeks and intensified this week after violence broke out on the Dhaka University campus on Monday between protesters, police and pro-government student activists. According to the latest data, the death toll in the unrest in Bangladesh was more than 151 people, and more than 2.5 thousand people were injured.
The protesters were demanding an end to the quota system, which reserves up to 30% of government jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence. Special quotas were also allocated for women, residents of backward areas and ethnic minorities, as well as people with disabilities.
⠀
The Bangladeshi government suspended the system after mass student protests in 2018, but in June this year, in response to petitions by relatives of 1971 veterans, the country’s High Court reinstated the quota system, sparking further demonstrations.
