With the Supreme Court’s decision with respect to quotas, we can now hope that the fierce student movement, which has seen heavy-handed response from our law enforcement and the ruling party’s student wing running riot making matters worse, will finally come to a close now.
The Supreme Court has decided to leave intact the government’s ability to reform the current government job quota system and the government seems minded to do so largely in accordance with the students’ demands.
Under the current circumstances, this is a win for everyone.
However, it is worth remembering that the days of horrific violence that preceded this rapprochement resulted in massive loss of student lives (and countless injured) -- young lives ended far too early.
As we have said before, unleashing the student wing of any political party has never resulted in any positive developments and the BCL’s involvement in much of the death and destruction is undeniable.
Not only does government need to stop imbuing its student politicians with impunity, it needs to bring to book those responsible for harming students, journalists, and civilians alike during the protests.
Which, as we have clearly observed, in many instances, also involves our law enforcement.
The image of young Abu Sayeed being shot point-blank by a uniformed police officer will forever haunt the conscience of the nation.
Each and every one of these deaths must be investigated and those responsible held accountable. The government owes that much to their mourning families. The nation is watching.
The right to civil dissent is enshrined in our constitution and the protesting students finally getting what they have been pressing for all this time is a stark reminder of the power of protest.
This is one for the history books and we hope a lesson for the future, too.
This editorial piece was first published in the print edition of Dhaka Tribune on July 21, 2024.