Wednesday’s attack on two buses carrying Chittagong University teachers’ in which 10 teachers were injured, among 15 people, is to be deemed as an attack on civilization, thus exemplary punishment to the perpetrators should be our top priority. Condemning the attack, we call the police and the CU authority to be tough enough to bring the criminals, regardless of their political affiliation, under the law and provide protection to the teachers. As the teachers and student organizations, divided on political lines, are accusing each other for assaulting teachers by hurling crude bombs on the buses, we stress on the need for proper investigation by a neutral committee. Besides, coexistence of different student organizations and unity among the teachers are vital to avoid any inauspicious and derogatory incidents in the country’s higher educational institutions.
Almost all the dailies reported that two buses carrying teachers of CU came under bomb attack at Fatehabad area under Hathazari Upazila leaving at least 15 persons including 10 teachers injured on Wednesday morning. Injured teacher Ashrafuzzaman said seven to eight attackers first opened fire and then hurled crude bombs. Meanwhile, police on Wednesday evening detained 20 people including 5 Islami Chhatra Shibir activists from the university campus and later filed two cases against at least 86 leaders, activists and supporters of Shibir, though, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, declined their involvement in the attack.
The attack is thought of as a sequel to the feud between the ruling Chhatra League and Shibir over establishing supremacy on the campus and dormitories. The CU authorities had closed Shibir-dominated Shah Amanat Hall after a gun battle between the two organisations on January 12, this year. They also had another gunfight on August 24 over Suhrawardy Hall, forcing the authorities to close that one too. The attack came when the general students of the halls enforced an indefinite strike on campus since August 31 demanding the reopening of the two Shibir-dominated dormitories, CU Proctor Siraj-ud-Daula said. The CU teachers’ association has demanded the immediate arrest and exemplary punishment for the attackers and declared a one-hour work abstention for four days commencing from Saturday. Condemning the attack, pro-BNP and Jamaat teachers have sought for lawful actions against the attackers and also called for their expulsion from the university. The impunity of the past attacks on teachers has encouraged the perpetrators to assault teachers repeatedly.
The attacks on the CU teachers are totally unacceptable as teachers are recognized as the mentors of civilization, progress and democracy. We demand punishment to the criminals as we did not lease the university to miscreants to attack and rob the educators. The CU authority should also solve the hall crisis, ensure coexistence of all student bodies, ensure security to teachers and students. And the teachers should also devote more seriously in teaching and research than involving in political exercises — thus earning back the respect of the students. Students would find it easier to respect teachers if they knew that they were actually committed to teaching and were not appointed merely on the basis of their political affiliation.
