DHAKA: The Bangladesh government said on Tuesday it would heed a Supreme Court ruling that 93% of state jobs be open to competition, meeting a key demand of students after a week of some of the country's deadliest protests in years.
But students raised fresh demands including the scrapping of a curfew, restoration of internet services and a reopening of campuses, leaving unclear whether the government's acceptance of the court decision would completely defuse the unrest.
Relative calm prevailed for a second straight day in Dhaka and most major cities although the army chief said security had still not been entirely restored after he surveyed the capital city by helicopter.
The government announced an easing of the curfew imposed to help contain the unrest, lifting it from Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to allow people to shop for essentials, with offices reopened between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Bangladeshi authorities also shut down mobile internet and deployed the army after clashes between protesters and security forces spread across the South Asian country of 170 million.
Almost 150 people have been killed in the violence with more than 1,600 arrested in the two main cities Dhaka and Chittagong.
The protests tailed off after the Supreme Court ruled on Sunday in favour of an appeal from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government and directed that 93% of jobs should be open to candidates on merit.
Sarjis Alam, a protest coordinator, said students wanted their new demands fulfilled within 48 hours, in addition to an apology from Hasina for the deaths of protesters, but did not say what would happen if the deadline wasn't met.
Students were furious because quotas left less than half of state jobs open to merit amid an unemployment crisis, particularly in the private sector, making government sector jobs with their regular wage hikes and perks especially prized.
The unrest has posed a new headache for Hasina as her government has sought to fix the struggling economy after securing a $4.7 billion International Monetary Fund bailout last year. — Reuters
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