JnU Correspondent :The leaders and the activists of the Jagannath University (JnU) unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) attacked the peaceful procession brought out by the Progressive Student Alliances on Sunday at 10.30am oin the campus and left about 20 students injured, 10 of them seriously, including two female students and a journalist. Monirul Islam, a spokesman of the agitating students, said, “JnU unit of the BCL men led by its President FM Shariful Islam and its General Secretary SM Sirajul Islam attacked us and pummeled black and blue when we congregated in front of the university main entrance.””They (BCL men) attacked us calling to wage the movement under their leadership”, Monirul said.According to eyewitnesses, several thousand students thronged in front of the university liberation war sculpture and marched towards the university main gate at about 10.00am. But when they reached that gate, the BCL men intercepted and beat them mercilessly. The seriously injured have been identified as Masum Billal Akando, a campus correspondent of an online news portal, Ruhiya Sultana of Bangla Department, Ruhul Amin of Economics Department, Prosenjeet of Mathematics Department, Golam Rabbi of Accounting Information Department, Chaitali Akhter and Animesh Roy of Law Department, the university unit Samajtantrik Chhatra Front President Mujahid Anik, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front (Marxist) President Mehrab Azad, and Bangladesh Chhatra Union President Al Amin. They were treated at local hospitals. Bina Khatun, a protestor, said, “We will continue our demonstration for dormitory despite BCL’s hindrance.” Meanwhile, an all out strike was observed on the campus on Sunday, classes and examinations were boycotted demanding construction of residential halls in the abandoned land of the Central Jail in Old Dhaka. A solidarity rally with intellectuals, teachers and students was also held in front of the central Shaheed Minar. In the meantime, the JnU Journalist Association (JnUJA) decided to boycott all BCLnews in protest against a brutal attack on a journalist. The decision was taken in an emergency meeting yesterday around 1pm at the JnUJA office.The assault on a journalist was heinous, JnU Proctor Dr Noor Mohammad said, “We will take stern academic action against the guilty ones after receipt of a written complaint in this regard.”Rebuffing the allegation, JnU unit BCL General Secretary Sirajul Islam said, “The university units of the left-wing students organizations rather attacked us with the collaboration of Jamat-Shibir men when we formed a human chain near the university Shaheed Minar for construction of halls.”About assaulting a journalist, the secretary said that it was nothing but misunderstanding between us. BCL central President Sayfur Rahman Shohag told The New Nation, “We shall keep an eye on the incident and will take punitive action organizationally through fair investigation. In the afternoon, the Progressive Student Alliances, including Samajtantrik Chhatra Front and the Bangladesh Chhatra Union, university units, brought out a procession in the city’s Shahbag area in protest against the attack on the agitating students of JnU.Meanwhile, JnU Teachers Association (JnUTA) expressed their solidarity with the movement and at the same time advised the students to attend the classes along with peaceful movement. JnUTA President Professor Dr Kazi Saifuddin said, “We will meet the PM and submit our demands, including students residential halls, in the form of memorandum.”Since August 1, the JnU students have been demonstrating for allotment of lands on the abandoned premises of Central Jail in Old Dhaka for residential halls named after Bangabandhu and four National Leaders.
