Bangladesh to issue shoot-to-kill orders to quell student protests as death toll rises

1. At least 133 people have died so far in this week’s violence, posing a huge challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic government after 15 years in power. Ms Hasina was due to leave the country on Sunday for a planned diplomatic trip but abandoned her plans due to protests.

2. Faced with rising death tolls and police inability to contain violent protests, the Bangladeshi government imposed a nationwide curfew and deployed the military on Friday.

3. The curfew was briefly lifted on Saturday afternoon to allow people to run essential errands, but otherwise people were ordered to stay at home and all gatherings and demonstrations were banned.

4. On Thursday, authorities also imposed a nationwide internet blackout that remains in effect, severely hampering communication inside and outside Bangladesh. Government websites remain offline and major newspapers such as the Dhaka Tribune and the Daily Star have been unable to update their social media platforms.

5. The Supreme Court is due to meet later in the day to rule on whether to abolish the controversial employment quotas.

6. Nearly 1,000 Indian students have returned to India from Bangladesh through various transit points by land and air. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the Ministry of External Affairs is fully focused on ensuring the safety and welfare of Indians in Bangladesh.

7. The US State Department has warned Americans against traveling to Bangladesh and announced it would expel some diplomats and their families from the country rocked by deadly unrest.

8. In Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka and elsewhere, violence escalated due to student protests demanding reform of the quota system for government jobs.

9. The protesters are demanding an end to the quota system that reserves up to 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

10. The quotas have angered students, who are faced with high youth unemployment: nearly 32 million young Bangladeshis are neither employed nor educated, out of a total population of 170 million.

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