Gazi Anowarul Haque :
The law enforcement and intelligence agencies have initiated an extensive investigation against 39 private universities and English medium educational institutions for their alleged involvement with militant outfits.
Several teams have already been assigned to collect e-mail, social sites’ information of those institutions’ suspected teachers, trustees and students. The person who has liked the militant’s page will also be brought under surveillance, said a top intelligence officer on Monday.
Sources said they have already sent details of 60 suspects to the emigration department for giving embargo for going abroad.
Fourteen private and four public universities, nine English medium colleges, nine government colleges and three private colleges have come under scanner. The list was made following alleged involvement of some students, teachers, trustees and owners with militant outfits, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid asked the authorities of all educational institutions in the country on Sunday to report to his ministry about any students absent from the institutions for more than 10 days.
Talking to the reporters at the secretariat, he said he would discuss with the authorities the steps to be taken to check militancy.
Meanwhile, authorities of North South University (NSU) recommended cancellation of studentship of any student found absent without valid reasons for one semester, instead of two semesters as in the past.
A final decision, however, will be made after the higher authorities approved it, Belal Ahmed, Deputy Director (Public relations) of NSU, told The New Nation on Monday.
NSU is always ready to assist the law enforcement agencies to give any information, he added.
Following some recent attacks, it emerged that a number of the attackers were current and former students of the university.
As part of the government’s anti-terror campaign, the home ministry would hold talks with the owners, teachers and student representatives of all private universities in the capital.
Meanwhile, the English medium schools and private universities have faced criticism from different quarters when some of the Gulshan killers were identified as their students. The attackers had killed 20 hostages at Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1.
Police had identified four of the assailants in the bakery incident as Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz, Meer Saameh Mubasheer and Khairul Islam Payel. Nibras had gone to study in Monash University in Malaysia after passing out from Turkish Hope School and North South University in Dhaka.
Similarly, Rohan went to Monash University in Malaysia after studying at Scholastica School and BRAC University in Dhaka. Meer had passed O level from Scholastica School and Payel was a madrasa student from Bogra.
