Amid students across the country boycotting classes and exams, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her annoyance over the repeated ultimatums by quota reform protesters, said well-placed sources of the Cabinet.
The Prime Minister showed her disappointment when the Cabinet discussed the protesters’ blockade in the capital’s Shabagh area at its regular meeting on Monday.
The sources quoted Hasina as saying, “I have given my word, now the committee is working. No one is sitting idle. It’s a lengthy process. Protesters are saying they will not attend class. Let them do it. It will hamper their studies.”
“Implementation of all decision requires a bit time and they have to have some patience but they issue threat. This is really too much,” the sources added quoting Hasina.
Cabinet Secretary Mohammed Shafiul Alam in is regular press briefing said the gazette notification on rescinding quotas in public service is being processed.
“The public administration ministry has formed a committee headed by the cabinet secretary. The panel has already forwarded a summary to the prime minister’s office on ethnic minorities and women. But I am yet to receive any documents, but I hope to get within a few days. The official order will be issued soon,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, students in universities and colleges across the country boycotted classes and examinations as the government is yet to issue the official order abolishing the quotas in public service.
In Dhaka University, thousands of protestors took out a procession from the central library around, suspending all classes around 11am on Monday.
It ended at the Shahbagh intersection, where protesters blocked the road and halted traffic.
Ambulances and emergency services, however, are being allowed to pass.
In Chittagong University, protesters blocked the rail tracks on the campus, halting the train service with the city.