Submit memo to President with 24-hr ultimatum for quota recast

Students and job-aspirants Sunday marched through police cordons and submitted a memorandum to President Mohammed Shahabuddin with a timeline for recasting government-job quota.
A mass march organised by the quota reformists was intercepted by police at different points on its way from the Dhaka University campus to Bangbhaban, the official residence of the President.
The activists announced a 24-hour ultimatum to witness visible progress on their one-point demand-restructuring the existing quota system applicable to all government jobs.
Reform activists in other districts also submitted the memo to the President through respective deputy commissioner following their march to their offices.
In the capital city, a 12-member delegation of the Student Movement against Discrimination, a non-political platform, handed over the memo to the military secretary to the President after they had reached his official residence around 2.30pm.
The delegates included coordinators of the movement Nahid Islam, Sarjis Alam, Asif Mahmud, Arif Sohail, Ashiq Ahmed, and Meherunnessa Nidra.
Following the submission, they joined other activists at a rally in Gulistan area, where they spelt out the 24-hour ultimatum to press home their demand for logical quota reform.
Addressing the fellow activists, one of the coordinators, Sarjis Alam, said the military secretary assured them of conveying the memo to the president.
"In the memorandum, we have pleaded for making a law in Parliament conserving maximum quota of five per cent in all grades for backward communities as per the constitution in government jobs," he said.
"We hope that the honourable President -- from his supreme position in the state -- will adopt all required measures to materialise the desire lying in the heart of the students," he said.
Another coordinator, Nahid Islam, urged the police to withdraw a case against protesters and not to "harass" them.
"If the cases against us are not withdrawn within the next 24 hours, we will intensify our programmes," he said.
He also said they were yet to get a positive response from the government.
"It is not clear to us what the government's intentions are. The court has ordered that the government can change the quota if it wants," he mentioned.
The memo mentions "making law after brining logical reform to quota applicable to all grades of government jobs through urgent session at the national parliament" as the subject, while the applicants were 'Student Movement against Discrimination on behalf of job-aspirant students'.
They have made a one-point demand for passing a law in the National Assembly with a maximum quota of five per cent-- for children of freedom fighters, minority ethnic groups and people with special needs disabled--in all grades in government jobs.
Earlier, the agitating students took out a procession under the banner of 'Student Movement against Discrimination' from Dhaka University's (DU) central library around 12 noon.
The procession breached police barricades at Education Rights intersection and Zero Point before gathering in front of Gulistan Shopping Complex which led to severe traffic congestion in the surrounding areas.
Students of Dhaka University, Jagannath University and seven government colleges affiliated with the DU also participated in this march.
Our Jahangirnagar University (JU) Correspondent adds: JU teachers expressed their solidarity with the movement through their participation in the rally on Sunday while the representatives of the university took part in the mass protest march in Dhaka.
Other activists at the JU campus held a rally to condemn police attacks and legal actions against fellow members of the movement.
Their procession began at 11.30 am in front of the central library and ended with a rally on the Dhaka-Aricha highway near the main gate.
Alongside the students, several teachers participated in the rally to show solidarity with the movement.
Professor Sohel Ahmed from the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department said, "We teachers and students expect the executive and judicial divisions to ensure justice and equality. For the past ten days, students have endured sun, rain, and sweat for a movement focused on the welfare of the state. As a teacher, I sympathize with their logical movement."
He also noted that freedom fighters should be given additional opportunities, as Bangladesh was achieved through the liberation war.
At the rally, Professor Golam Rabbani from the History Department praised the students for their ongoing movement for quota reform, not abolition.
He said, "quotas are necessary to uplift marginalized groups but should not create discrimination. The current quota system is making the country talentless. This movement is crucial for the nation's development, not just for job seekers."
Ahsan Labib, a biotechnology and genetic engineering student, called for quota reform to provide opportunities for the talented. He condemned recent attacks on students and cited historical protests, such as those in 1952 and 1969, where students persisted until their demands were met. Labib vowed that the protesters would not leave the streets until quota reform is achieved and warned that any countermeasures would only intensify the movement.

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