Last updated on August 29th, 2024 at 03:18 pm
Families of the people killed during recent student protests in Bangladesh have placed an 11-point demand to the interim government that is being formed following the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The families have sought job rehabilitation of the affected families among their demands.
The ongoing death count in violent mass protests against the Hasina government’s quota system in government jobs has reached 440. In renewed violence over the weekend, over 200 died as police clashes with violent student protests.
In a statement, signed by Harun-ur Rashid, Convener proposed “Committee on Families of Injured and Killed in Anti-Discriminatory Student Movement,” he said, efforts are afoot to gather authentic lists of the affected families, including students, youths, elders, men, and women.
11-Point Demand:
- Monthly Grants For Students: Provision of Tk2,000-3,000 per month for students from Pre-primary to Masters levels, based on age, under a “Food-Card” program.
- Unemployment Allowance: Tk3,000 a month for the unemployed.
- Inquiry Committee: A committee should be formed comprising armed forces and students to ensure good treatment of the injured from the protest.
- Rehabilitation of Affected Families: Immediate rehabilitation steps should be taken toward the affected families of the conflicts.
- Government Scholarships: Direct scholarships for students reading in private universities.
- Institution Rename: Institutional renaming by changing institution names that were named in the memory of Sheikh Hasina family members to the names of martyrs in the Pilkhana tragedy as well as from other movement.
- Law and order reform: addition of neutral former soldiers and police officers of the UN peacekeeping force to serve as advice to the clean the law and order situation.
- Recovery of illegal arms: immediate recovery operations of the illegal weapons set by the perpetrators of the commotion.
- Redeployment of Officers: Discussion to redeploy honest and efficient officers in the government services who were deprived of promotions or who have been retired from services, by the previous government being the victims of the oppressive policy of the government.
- Financial Recovery: Quick recovery of large amount of loans from major defaulters and the money that was smuggled to foreign countries and the cases to be trialed in the military courts.
- Representation in Interim Government: At least one person from the aggrieved families of the anti-quota movement should be included in the interim government.
It expressed deep sympathy to the families of the dead and injured and lauded army officers and soldiers, under the leadership of the Chief of the Bangladesh Army, for the assistance.
In a direct video message, Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun appealed to political leaders as well as the protesters of Students Against Discrimination not to unleash attacks on the members of the police and their respective establishments. He continued expressions of thanks to members of the army for their support to secure the area.
This comprehensive list of demands takes into consideration the immediate needs required by those affected due to the protests and seeks to guarantee long-term solutions in order to prevent such violence from taking place in the future.
