Universities in Bangladesh have become a battleground. On one side are the students and on the other side is PM Sheikh Hasina's Army. A direct fight has been going on for the past one week between the two. Batons are being used and bullets are also being fired. The army has even deployed tanks. The students are pelting stones at the police and the army, and the attacks by the students are being answered with bullets. So far, 25 people have died in this violence and now PM Sheikh Hasina has ordered the indefinite closure of all educational institutions across the country.
But why are the students in Bangladesh so angry and why are Sheikh Hasina's police and army firing bullets on the angry students like enemies? This is happening because the students of Bangladesh are not allowing the political desire of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to be fulfilled.
University students in Dhaka and other cities have been holding rallies for more than a week protesting the system of reservation in public sector jobs, including that for the relatives of war heroes, who fought for the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971.
The war heroes of 1971 are considered to be the core voters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The quota system for war heroes in Bangladesh started in 1972. However, after protests, Sheikh Hasina had to withdraw the order of reservation for war heroes in 2018. But last month, the Dhaka High Court gave the decision to give 30 per cent reservation to the members of the families of war heroes.
Against this, the Supreme Court had banned reservation in government jobs last week. But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina refused to accept the decision of the Supreme Court. Now the Sheikh Hasina government is accused of strengthening its vote bank by giving reservations to the families of war heroes.
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But this did not go down well with the students of Bangladesh and the fire of protest that started from the University of Dhaka has now spread so badly in the universities of Bangladesh that Sheikh Hasina has ordered the closure of all universities in the country indefinitely and has deployed her army to crush the student protests.
