Bangladesh top court scraps most job quotas that triggered deadly protests

• Streets quiet after ruling, army on patrol
• Attorney general hopes for normalcy after verdict
• At least 114 killed in violence so far
• Internet, text message services still suspended

Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Sunday scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that had sparked nationwide protests by students that have killed at least 114 people in recent days.

Dismissing a lower court order, the Supreme Court's Appellate Division directed that 93% of government jobs in the South Asian Country should be open to candidates on merit, Bangladesh Attorney General A.M. Amin Uddin told Reuters.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government had scrapped the quota system in 2018, but the lower court reinstated it last month, pegging total quotas at 56%, sparking the protests and an ensuing government crackdown.

The Supreme Court directed the government to cut the job quotas for families of independence fighters to 5%, the attorney general said. The remaining 2% of jobs still subject to quotas are for people from so-called backward groups and the disabled, he added.