DHAKKA: While students protests against quota system in government jobs in Bangladesh have escalated, the Foreign Office in Islamabad asked Pakistani students to stay away from the demonstrations.
On the other hand, violent clashes have been reported between the students and government supporters in Dhakka and other cities of Bangladesh.
A large number of students from Pakistan are enrolled in different educational institutions in Bangladesh at the moment.
The government, unable to control the protests, started blacking out the reports of the demonstrations by making television news channels off air. Moreover, the government has also suspended mobile phone services in major cities.
Nearly two dozen people have been killed in clashes this week while the government remained a silent spectator.
French news agency AFP reported that the death toll in Thursday’s violence had risen to 32.
To quell the protests, army has been called out in Dhakka, but the students have announced to continue their protests untill their demands were met.
The nationwide agitation, the biggest since Hasina was re-elected earlier this year, has been fuelled by high youth unemployment. Nearly a fifth of the country’s 170 million population is out of work or education, Reuters news agency reported.
Protesters are demanding the state stop setting aside 30% of government jobs for the families of people who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
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