An organization of freedom fighter families who are protesting for the reinstatement of their quotas in government jobs, have backtracked from an earlier decision and announced they will hold blockades for seven hours a day.
Spokesperson of the organization – Muktujuddho Moncho – DU Prof AKM Jamal Uddin made this announcement yesterday from Dhaka’s Shahbagh.
Prof Jamal said: “We will continue our protest until the six point demands are met. We will continue the blockade at Shahbagh from 3pm to 10pm as we do not want patients at the nearby hospitals to suffer.”
He asked protesters across the country to hold blockades on highways for an hour from 10am.
Calling Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam a person with anti-Liberation War leanings, the professor demanded his resignation.
At a rally at Shahbagh intersection on Saturday, Prof Jamal announced the blockade of highways, railways, and waterways across the country.
In response to the announcement, some 25 students under the banner of Muktijoddha Sangsad Santan Command of Jahangirnagar University blocked the Dhaka-Aricha Highway in front of the university.
In Chittagong, some 60-70 students of Chittagong University blocked the Chittagong-Khagrachhari highway in front of university gate No-1 made demands concerning the same issue.
Following abolishment of all quotas in government jobs, groups representing people who would have benefitted from the quotas launched a road blockade program that continued for the five consecutive day yesterday.
In the city, descendants of freedom fighters along with physically challenged students under the banner of “Bangladesh Pratibandhi Shikkharthi Oikya Parishad”(Bangladesh Disabled Students' Unity Council), blocked the city’s busy Shahbagh intersection which caused traffic congestion in the afternoon.
A group of 40-50 physically challenged students of Chittagong University and other universities of the port city blocked roads in the Soloshohor area, demanding the preservation of their quota in government jobs.
At Rajshahi University, around 25 physically challenged students under the banner “Bangladesh Protibondhi Shikkharthi Oikya Parishad,’ staged a sit-in before the university main gate. They also blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway, halting vehicular movement.
Under the quota system which was abolished by the government recently, physically challenged candidates enjoyed a one per cent quota.
On October 4, the government issued a circular abolishing the quota system for first and second class jobs in the civil service amid demonstrations for reinstating quotas for freedom fighter descendants and indigenous communities.
Until the abolition, about 56% of government jobs had been reserved for candidates under various quotas. Of this, 30% were for freedom fighters’ children and grandchildren, 10% for women, 10% for people of underdeveloped districts, 5% for members of indigenous communities, and 1% for the physically challenged.
