Background

On December 30th 2010 the government included grandchildren in the 30% quota reserved for freedom fighters and their children (FFQ). This resulted in a protest two and a half years later in July of 2013, the campus of the University of Dhaka saw clashes between two groups. The police had to intervene, activists get beat up by the ruling party student wing Bangladesh Chhatro League (BCL), and the activists get labeled as “Shibir” (Banned Jamaat-E-Islami student wing Islami Chhatro Shibir) These activists get beaten out of campus.

In early 2018 a writ petition was filed with the High Court (HC) seeking re-evaluation of the quota system in government jobs, in March the HC rejected the writ. A student uproar is noticeable at the University of Dhaka campus. These students campaign around campus, rallying support for their cause. By April, it turned into a huge movement on campus, the students were demanding the government make reforms to the quota system, focusing on the 30% of FFQ. Then agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury calls the protesters “Razakar

er baccha”, meaning children of the collaborators of the Pakistani military in the 1971 War of Independence. This triggers enormous uproar among the students as the word “Razakar” is considered a slur, even more students take to the streets because of this. The BCL attacked the students again, this time at night with the help of the police, and tear shells. This causes enormous amounts of students all across the country to protest on their campuses, condemning the violence inflicted on DU students. This resulted in the Prime Minister abolishing the whole quota system altogether for government jobs by an executive order. After a few months, a group of children of Freedom Fighters took this matter to court by another writ petition, arguing the abolishment of FFQ is illegal.