A sudden curfew

A nation-wide government curfew was declared from midnight on Friday till 10 am on Sunday. A government declares curfew and brings the army to the aid of civilian administration as a last resort when a situation gets out of control. We are made to understand that this last resort had to be taken to stop the unbelievable violence we have been witnessing for the last four days, especially on Friday. We hope and expect the army to handle the situation judiciously and not in the way the police and BGB have, which has been shockingly brutal. We must remember that a curfew does assist the restoration of law and order, but it also throttles the economy, kills small businesses, greatly harms the lives of daily wage earners and generates harmful rumours. Thus, it should be enforced for the shortest period of time.

This brings us to the most horrific part of this crisis—at least 66 (confirmed) lives lost in one day (July 19) and hundreds injured. It puts the death toll as confirmed by this paper at 101, though the actual figure is probably much higher. More deaths have been reported on Saturday. People, mostly students, have been shot dead throughout the country. What happened that so many people had to be killed? According to media reports, the majority of deaths was caused by firing from the police and the BGB (with the highest death toll on July 19). Is it acceptable that law enforcement agents and other state actors can shoot so many civilians "to control a situation?" Can something as irresponsible as law enforcers indiscriminately firing bullets and throwing sound grenades from helicopters, be legitimate? In fact, their action instead of reducing violence, inflamed it further. The nation demands a credible explanation for such unprecedented deaths along with a believable investigation into these killings. Those responsible must be given befitting punishment and those who ordered such violent measures to be taken must be held accountable.

There is some truth in the government's statement that political elements have entered the students' anti-quota movement. It is obvious that non-student elements including those that are political have become players in the crisis which makes it all the more important that the government differentiates the students from these non-student elements. The onus is on the government to find a solution acceptable to the quota protestors. The government must also ensure that no student is intimidated, harassed or attacked for being part of the movement by the police, university authorities or by members of the Chhatra League.

We condemn the large-scale destruction and arson attacks on government establishments which we believe were carried out by non-student actors and fair investigations must be made of these incidents. We urge the government to refrain from any further hardline approach to this crisis and restore the country to normalcy as soon as possible.