For the second consecutive day, the Bangla Blockade grips the capital, with thousands of students and jobseekers bringing traffic to a standstill at key intersections across Dhaka.
Beyond Dhaka, protesters hold the streets with equal resolve
Even on a holiday, the quota reform protests show no sign of slowing. Students across Bangladesh take to the streets, block roads, form human chains, and voice their rejection of the reinstated quota system in government jobs.
Defying the rain, they sat on the streets, waving banners and shouting slogans
The student movement against the reinstatement of the quota system in public service recruitment escalated on July 3, 2024, as demonstrations expanded beyond university campuses to major highways and key city intersections, mounting pressure on the government.
Defying rain, warnings, exhaustion, anti-quota protests gained momentum
Though protests had already begun in response to a High Court verdict reinstating quotas in government jobs, it was on July 1, 2024, that the movement for reforms to the quota system truly took shape.
On March 31, 1971, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi moved a resolution in parliament strongly criticising the military action in Bangladesh.
There was a final meeting between Awami League’s team and President Yahya Khan’s advisers on March 24 at 6:00pm. The reading of all the clauses and schedules of the draft proclamation, initially prepared by Yahya’s advisers and subsequently modified by AL representatives, was concluded.
The representatives of President Yahya Khan and an Awami League team met twice today. The AL team arrived at the President’s House flying the Bangladesh flag -- a sight which clearly disturbed the junta. However, an agreement on the implementation of the principles embodied in the Six Points was ultimately achieved.
On the morning of March 22, 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called on President Yahya Khan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was also present at the meeting.
In an unscheduled meeting, Yahya today told Mujib and Tajuddin that Bhutto had been informed that the representatives of the Awami League and the government had reached an agreement on the formation of central cabinet and that Bhutto should be present for discussion on the interim constitutional instrument and cabinet formation.
The fourth round of talks between Yahya Khan and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was held today. Bangabandhu was joined by his colleagues -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Khondokar Moshtaque Ahmed, M Mansur Ali and Kamal Hossain.
The fateful talks between President Yahya Khan and the Awami League Chief, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were resumed at the President’s House today.
On the morning of March, 18, 1971, Major General Khadim Hussain Raja, then general officer commanding of 14 Division in East Pakistan, and Major General Rao Farman Ali,
On the morning of March 17, the Mujib-Yahya talks resumed. Today was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s 51st birthday. Bangabandhu reiterated his demand for the withdrawal of martial law and the immediate transfer of power to elected representatives.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman met President Yahya Khan this morning. He arrived at the President’s House in a car flying a black flag to mourn the death of those killed during the ongoing non-cooperation movement. It was an hourlong discussion.
President Yahya Khan arrived in Dhaka today. No local political leader went to the airport to meet him. All the entries of the airport were heavily guarded. Siddiq Salik, then public relations officer in the Pakistan army in Dhaka, recounts,
