Bangladesh Restores Internet as Students Call off Job-Quota Protests 

People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Restores Internet as Students Call off Job-Quota Protests 

People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said it had restored internet services as conditions return to normal after students called off protests against reforms to job quotas that killed nearly 150 people this month.

The agitation, which began in universities and colleges last month, flared into nationwide protests that injured thousands as security forces cracked down, leading to curfew, army patrols on the streets and internet suspension to rein in the violence.

"The broadband and mobile internet connectivity has been restored with full functionality by now," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"Other forms of communications, including land-based and mobile telecommunications, were functional through the entire period of unrest and violence."

It added, "The government wishes to assure all international partners that the overall situation is turning back to normal, thanks to the timely and appropriate measures taken by the government and the people."

The United Nations, international rights groups, the US and Britain were among critics of the use of force against protesters while asking Dhaka to uphold the right to peaceful protest.

Rights groups and critics say Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has grown more autocratic during 15 years in power, marked by mass arrests of political opponents and activists, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, charges she denies.

Protests led by students broke out in June when a high court ordered the restoration of quotas in government jobs, including reservations for families of veterans of the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and lobbed sound grenades to disperse tens of thousands who flooded the streets.

Students agreed to pause their agitation after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas on July 21, opening 93% of jobs to candidates selected on the basis of merit.

The "mostly peaceful and issue-specific students' movement" were not involved in violence, Hasina's government said, but blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which denied the assertion.

The students called off the protests, which had fallen off after the Supreme Court ruling.

"Our main demand for logical reforms to the government job quota system has been met," student coordinator Nahid Islam said in a video message on Sunday from police headquarters, calling for educational institutions to re-open.

He was among three protesters held by police while being treated in hospital, his younger brother told Reuters, in a step police said was aimed at ensuring security for protesters.



US-Japan Security Talks Underscore Threat from China

US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato
US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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US-Japan Security Talks Underscore Threat from China

US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato
US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japanese and US defense chiefs and top diplomats agreed to further bolster their military cooperation by upgrading the command and control of US forces in the East Asian country and strengthening American-licensed missile production there, describing the rising threat from China as “the greatest strategic challenge.”
Japan is home to more than 50,000 US troops, but the commander for the US Forces Japan headquartered in Yokota in the western suburbs of Tokyo, tasked with managing their bases, has no commanding authority. Instead, instructions come from the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii. The plans will give the USFJ greater capability while still reporting to INDOPACOM.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin joined their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo, known as “2+2” security talks where they reaffirmed their bilateral alliance following President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the November presidential race.

“We are standing at a historic turning point as the rules-based, free and open international order is shaken to the core," Kamikawa said. "Now is a critical phase when our decision today determines our future.”

Austin, in his opening remarks, said China is “engaging in coercive behavior, trying to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, around Taiwan and throughout the region," adding that North Korea's nuclear program and its deepening cooperation with Russia “threaten regional and global security.”

In the joint statement issued after the talks, the ministers said China's foreign policy “seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others” and that “such behavior is a serious concern to the alliance and the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”

China has been at odds with many countries in the Asia-Pacific for years because of its sweeping maritime claims over the crucial South China Sea. It also claims self-governing Taiwan as its territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. In March, Beijing announced a 7.2% increase in its defense budget, already the world’s second-highest behind the United States, marking a massive military expansion.

According to The Associated Press, the ministers said the US command reorganization, set for March to be in line with Japan's own command updating, aimed “to facilitate deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations in peacetime and during contingencies” and enhance intelligence coordination, surveillance, reconnaissance and cybersecurity.

Japan has long suffered from cybersecurity threats that Washington believes are of grave concern. Lately, Japan’s space agency revealed it suffered a series of cyberattacks, and though sensitive information related to space and defense was not affected, it has triggered worry and pushed the agency to pursue preventative measures.

The ministers in a joint statement reaffirmed the US commitment to “extended deterrence,” which includes atomic weapons — a shift from Japan’s earlier reluctance to openly discuss the sensitive issue, as the world’s only country to have suffered atomic attacks, amid nuclear threats from Russia and China.