• The decision, which was abolished in 2018, was reinstated last month, leading to a wave of protests and a crackdown.
• Attorney General AM Amin Uddin announced that the quota reserved for veterans will be reduced to 5%.
• The verdict followed a series of deadly clashes, leading to a curfew and a communications blackout.

On Sunday, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that had ignited nationwide unrest. The unrest led to deadly clashes between police and student protesters, resulting in over 100 deaths in the past week.

Since early July, university students have been demonstrating on campuses to demand a reformation of the quota system, which reserved 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans from Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war.

The government abolished the quotas following student protests in 2018, but Bangladesh’s High Court reinstated them last month. This decision triggered a new wave of demonstrations, which were met with a harsh crackdown, including a curfew and a communications blackout that isolated the country of 170 million people from the world.

Ruling on an appeal, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin announced that the Supreme Court had ordered the quota reserved for veterans to be reduced to 5 percent. The court also mandated that 93 percent of jobs be allocated based on merit, with the remaining 2 percent reserved for members of ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

“In the future, the government may change the ratio if needed,” Uddin told Arab News.

“Now, I will send a copy of the verdict to the law minister for the next steps. (I) hope a gazette will be published in this regard within the next couple of days.”

The verdict followed demonstrations that spiraled into deadly clashes, leading authorities to impose a curfew before the Supreme Court hearing. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Agence France-Presse that the curfew would continue “until the situation improves.”

The military patrolled the streets of Dhaka alongside riot police and thousands of Border Guard personnel, as authorities banned all gatherings amid rising casualties.

Local media reports indicate that at least 148 people have been killed and thousands injured in the past week.

Inamul Haq Sagar, spokesman for the police, told Arab News: “We are on the highest alert across the country to maintain law and order.”

He added that clashes over the past few days had resulted in the deaths of at least three policemen and injuries to about 1,000 police officers.

He said: “Since the curfew is underway, I urge all to be respectful to the law of the country and refrain from any destructive activities.”

It was unclear how protesters would react to the Supreme Court’s decision.

Students had taken to the streets because the government quotas, which reserve hundreds of thousands of well-paid government jobs, directly affect young people. The country’s unemployment rate is highest among people aged 15 to 29, who make up more than a quarter of Bangladesh’s population and constitute 83 percent of the unemployed.

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