Daily Times

Instead of hiding behind the usual anti-Pakistan slurs, the longest-serving Bangladeshi premier should have weighed the merits behind the shock and disappointment raging on the streets in a country known for the power of its street politics.

With a telecommunication blackout, effective shutdown of educational institutions and a full-fledged ban on public rallies in the capital, it won’t take long for students and job seekers, who have been on the roads for the past six years, demanding an end to the discriminatory job quota system to pan out into a resistance movement.

The ultimate trigger to these protests was a High Court ruling on June 5, which reinstated the 30 per cent “freedom fighters” quota, undoing the painstaking efforts by student organisations for its removal. Clashes between the demonstrators and the police forces have already led to 39 casualties while the actual number has not yet been confirmed by the authorities. Hundreds more have been injured and the toll is expected to rise further after reports of clashes in nearly half of the country’s 64 districts.

With malls closed down, quiet streets and thin traffic on Dhaka’s clogged streets, daily life remains suspended. Nevertheless, PM Hasina’s government remains firm in thwarting any attempts to downplay her writ. She may have invited the students to the deliberations table to settle the issue amicably, urging restraint before the higher judiciary announces its verdict, but is just as fierce in flashing the authoritarian stick.

As international pressure abounds and condemnations of state machinery being used to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful protests pour in, Ms Hasina is walking on thin ice. Considering how she still needs to deliver her potential after an election for the fourth consecutive term was boycotted by the entire country’s opposition, implying offensive comparisons does not make for a reasonable strategy. *