NEW DELHI, July 21 – Hundreds of Indian students have returned home from Bangladesh as Bangladeshi authorities try to contain the growing civil unrest.
Nearly 780 Indian students had come back through land border crossings until Saturday and another 200 returned by regular flights from Dhaka and Chittagong, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday
Indian diplomatic missions are in “regular touch with more than 4,000 students remaining in various universities in Bangladesh and are providing necessary assistance,” the ministry said.
There were around 8,500 students and 15,000 Indian national residents in Bangladesh, it said on Friday.
Protesters are demanding an end to a job quota system that reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of those who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war.
The death toll in the nationwide demonstrations was about 130 and hundreds of people have suffered injuries, according to media reports.
The government has deployed soldiers, shut down mobile internet services and closed universities to control the situation.
A curfew imposed on Friday was extended on Sunday.
