Many people may have heard of the ongoing turmoil in Bangladesh. But what is actually happening and what can the British government do? 

The two main political parties in Bangladesh are the ruling Awami League Party, and the opposition is the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP). The leaders of both parties are women.

Shaykh Hasina heads the Awami League and the leader of the BNP is Khaleda Zia. The Awami League is secular whereas the BNP has formed alliances with Islamic parties in the past.

Hasina is the daughter of the late Shaykh Mujibur Rahman the founding father of Bangladesh, and Khaleda is the wife of another early Bangladeshi leader, the late Ziaur Rahman.

The nation of Bangladesh was born after a nine month bloody civil war against West Pakistan in 1971. 

More than 100 people have been killed so far in the vicious government clampdown, with 50 killed on Friday alone. Several thousand are believed to have been injured according to estimates.

The government has imposed a curfew and a blackout by shutting off the internet and severely restricting telephone services. As a result, there are no reports coming out from the country. Only emergency services are allowed outside.

The ongoing crisis in the country of 170 million was caused by the quota system for government jobs.

The demonstrations started after the High Court ordered the reinstatement of a quota that reserves 30 percent of government jobs for family members of people who fought for the country’s independence from West Pakistan.

The government scrapped the quota system in 2018, but a court re-established it last month. The quota is seen to be discriminatory and benefits supporters of Hasina’s party. The demonstrators want the system to be based on merit instead.

The student- led protests have been going on for weeks, but there has been a sharp increase in state sanctioned attacks on protestors over the past four days as protests spread across the impoverished country which has been developing economically, especially in the garment industry.

I believe it is time for the Awami league and its leader Hasina to be held accountable and for international powers to demand immediate just and fair elections. There has always been enmity between the two major parties after Hasina’s father, Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975.

Hasina was re-elected for a fourth successive term this year. The circumstances around the elections need to be investigated as there were reports of corruption and intimidation. The protests are the biggest test faced by Hasina’s government in 15 years.

Authorities have established a curfew and deployed the military, who were given orders to shoot on sight if needed. This is unacceptable and draconian as the protests, on the whole, were peaceful and the student’s demands are not unreasonable.

I have many relatives in Bangladesh, particularly in Sylhet. My relatives over there are not politically aligned with either party, but they are in danger of being shot if they join protests. They are not answering the phone and we have no contact with them. 

We stand with the students of Bangladesh. We stand against the oppression of the Bangladeshi government. We will not remain silent as atrocities are carried out. 

We need to lobby the British government to intervene, and we need to pray for the oppressed demonstrators.