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Bangladesh Supreme Court meets Sunday to deliberate on quota system amid curfew

Bangladesh Supreme Court meets Sunday to deliberate on quota system amid curfew

Jul 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court will decide on Sunday whether to accept the government’s request to consolidate the temporary suspension of the quota system for civil servants, the restoration of which has ended up unleashing one of the worst waves of violence in recent years in the country, currently under curfew after a week of riots that have reportedly left more than a hundred dead.

The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had suspended this system in 2018, which guarantees 30 percent of public jobs to descendants of fighters from Pakistan’s war of independence. However, the Supreme Court ended up restoring this system last month at the request of these relatives.

This decision sparked the outbreak of new and bloody protests, also directed against the government of Bangladesh and against the head of government, who is accused of having been unable to control the effect of a measure that she initially supported, as the daughter of one of the founding fathers of the country.

The country’s attorney general, Aminuddin Manik, told the BBC’s Bangladesh affiliate that the government has lodged an appeal to have the restoration order permanently suspended, while Hasina recently addressed the country and asked protesters to be patient while awaiting a final verdict.

The court will meet this coming Sunday at 10:00 local time (06:00 in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands) to hear the Government’s arguments.

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