Memorandum submitted to President seeking emergency parliament session

A delegation of students and job seekers on July 14 last year submitted a memorandum to the President with a timeline to see progress on their one-point demand for a rational reform in the quota system in public jobs, reports BSS.

The delegation entered the President's official residence Bangabhaban at around 02.35 pm and submitted the memorandum to the President's military secretary there.

In the memorandum, the students had called for convening an urgent parliamentary session within the next 24 hours to enact a law reforming the quota system in government jobs or issuing an executive order to this end.

Before the delegation entered Bangabhaban, police set up barricades at different points on the way to the President's residence. The police, however, prevented hundreds of students from marching to the president's official residence by putting a strong barricade at the Gulistan intersection and allowed a 12-member delegation to enter the Bangabhaban.

After coming out of the Bangabhaban submitting the memorandum, Nahid Islam, one of the key coordinators of the movement, said in the memorandum they recommended a 24-hour timeframe for convening an urgent parliament session to pass a law addressing their one-point demand- reforming the quota in government jobs bringing down it to five percent only for backward section people.

"We expect to see visible action within 24 hours," he added.

Regarding the case filed with Shahbagh police station against the demonstrators, Nahid, also now former adviser of the current interim government and NCP chief, had said that they extended their deadline by another 24 hours to withdraw the case.

"If the case is not withdrawn within this time, we will intensify our movement," he had said, referring to their previous 24 hours ultimatum issued on July 13 demanding withdrawal of the case.

Students from different educational institutions, including Dhaka University, Jagannath University, Eden College, Dhaka College and Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls College, joined the march toward Bangabhaban.