Denouncing the attacks on anti-quota movement activists, BNP on Monday urged the government to resolve the problem over the quota system peacefully through discussions with the demonstrators.
In a statement, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also demanded the government unconditionally release the arrested demonstrators.
He alleged that the government has let loose the ruling party student organisation to attack the demonstrators of the quota-reform movement and police to arrest them instead of fulfilling the commitment made by the Prime Minister in Parliament over the abolition of quota in the public service.
“The sensible people of the country in no way can accept the breaching of commitment and showing brutality by the highest level (of the state),” the BNP leader observed.
He further said, “The students of the quota-reform movement are like our children. Showing inhuman attitude against them by using law enforcers or the ruling party organisation is a shameful act.”
Fakhrul alleged that the current government is hardly bothered about the justified demands of the people of different walks of life. “I strongly condemn and protest the brutal acts against the demonstrating students.”
Earlier on Saturday, some members of Bangladesh General Students’ Rights Protection Council, the platform of students that led the quota reform movement, were injured in an attack allegedly by some Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists on the Dhaka University campus.
The BCL men also reportedly attacked the quota reform activists at different universities, including the Dhaka University, on Sunday and Monday, leaving many of them injured.
In April, the students of public and private universities across the country waged a strong movement demanding that the quota system be reformed.
In the face of the student agitations, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced in parliament on April 11 the abolition of all types of quotas in government jobs.
