Bangladesh army stand guard near the country's Secretariat as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 27, 2024. A government crackdown on protesters included blocking the country’s online services and taking down social media. — AFP
DHAKA: Md. Rakibul Ahsan was finishing a logo he had designed for a foreign client as the deadline fast approached. Just before he could hit send, Bangladesh’s Internet was shut down, stranding him and the rest of the country offline.
Student-led protests against quotas for highly sought-after government jobs led to violent clashes that killed at least 147 people in Bangladesh this month.
The government responded with a countrywide curfew, sending military troops to patrol empty roads, and a comprehensive internet outage on July 18 – a tactic it has employed previously at refugee camps and ahead of elections.
The Supreme Court on Sunday reversed a lower court decision that had reinstated the quotas, which had sparked the protests in a country facing a jobs crisis. The top court ruled that most positions should instead be filled based on merit in a partial victory for the student protesters.
Broadband connectivity was partially restored on Wednesday. Banks and the corporate sector came online first, with others reconnecting more gradually.
For graphic designer Ahsan, the shutdown cost him his client. Independent professionals who find work at freelancing platforms are now worried they could be downranked, while those who provide regular services such as online marketing might lose longstanding relationships after the week-long outage, he said.
“It just does not feel great to fail at the last minute to respond to a client who trusts me,” said Ahsan, a fine arts graduate who is one of Bangladesh’s 650,000 freelancers, many of whom work in IT, a sector that contributes US$1bil (RM4.62bil) to the country’s economy.
Amid the protests, government officials also took aim at social media sites such as Facebook, blaming them for enabling the turmoil. The sites are still offline in Bangladesh.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, a technology minister, told reporters that repairs were underway to restore telecoms services after communications infrastructure was vandalised during the violence.
Small businesses hit
The curfew and shutdown created enormous stress on businesses, especially the small enterprises that are the mainstay of Bangladesh's economy, said Ferdaus Ara Begum, head of the Dhaka-based think tank Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD).
Faysal Ahmed, who runs a family-owned business in Munshiganj on the banks of Padma River, manufactures wooden houses and ships them to Bangladeshi and international customers.
Ahmed could not connect with customers on WhatsApp or Facebook, and his 50 or so employees could not work.
"For businesses like ours, coping with the losses will take months," he said.
Tour operator Masuk Rahman had to cancel boat rides to the Tanguar Haor wetland – a popular tourist destination in northeast Bangladesh – and issue refunds during a peak time of year for visitors.
"As business owners, we are worried whether we can recoup our investments, while boat workers who get paid on a per-trip basis stay without work," said Rahman.
Ripon Hossain, a garment worker from Narayanganj, said that his factory finally opened on Wednesday after a week, but ongoing restrictions still posed challenges.
Hundreds of thousands of garment workers draw their monthly salaries from automated teller machines; the week-long closure of banks and ATMs left many without cash.
Families that rely on online apps to obtain cooking gas or subsidised food from government supplies struggled to make food.
"Many of us had to borrow cash from others to buy groceries," Hossain said.
Social costs
The shutdown also stoked widespread unease, said Syed Tanveer Rahman, a psychology professor from Dhaka University.
"There is a general sense of anxiety among youth – especially as they usually rely on the internet to get information – and when the digital platforms go, there is always a risk that rumours can spread, exacerbating the situation," he said.
People flocked to social media sites including Facebook, WhatsApp and the messaging platform imo for updates from friends and family, as well as to speak out during the quota protests. Once these sites fell silent, people felt isolated.
Shaikh Md. Mominul Islam, 38, a gender activist based in Dhaka, said being cut off from loved ones during the curfew and Internet blackout worsened his sense of isolation and prevented him from withdrawing cash to buy food and medicine.
"Having been sleepless in the last few days, my blood pressure went high, and I felt suicidal," he said.
Online rights
Global activists called on the government to restore internet access.
"Internet shutdowns are a disproportionate measure and ineffective at quelling violence, and are likely to have the opposite effect, as they reduce people's agency to counteract misinformation," digital rights non-profit Access Now wrote in an open letter.
"Government agencies have a duty to ensure that people can access open, secure and unrestricted internet when they need it the most."
Over 300 civil society organisations from 105 countries worldwide signed the appeal.
The government has previously blocked internet access to quell dissent, including during the country's 2018 election, which was marred by violence.
Officials said this was to prevent misinformation surrounding the vote. The leading opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which won only seven parliamentary seats in the election, accused the government of using the outage to rig the vote. The ruling Awami League party denied those charges.
The following year, the government throttled mobile services at camps hosting 1 million Rohingya refugees, which aid workers said stopped them from repairing monsoon-damaged infrastructure in camps.
The partial restoration of broadband Internet on Wednesday was a relief for many, but full access, including to social media, would help restore calm more quickly, observers said.
Ferdaus Ara Begum from BUILD said the government should prioritise internet access in order for life to return to normal.
"The very crisis is a testament that the Internet has become integral to the way our economy runs – and shows how digital technology affects everyone's lives in all kinds of ways," she said. – Thomson Reuters Foundation
