Rayhanul Islam :
Students at Dhaka University (DU) and Rajshahi University (RU) on Tuesday held demonstrations on the campuses demanding punishment of those who attacked the students of the universities and swooped on quota reformists on Sunday and Monday.
At DU, a section of students formed a human-chain under the banner of ‘Students Against Repression’ in front of Raju Memorial sculpture.
Abu Raihan khan, a third year student of DU, said, “After two days being elapsed of BCL assault on quota reformists, university authorities are yet to take any steps against the attackers.”
“As a human being, we can’t remain silent in this situation. Hopefully, the university authorities will bring those culprits under punishment soon after fair investigation,” he said.
Umme Habiba Benojir, President of Bangladesh Chhatra Federation of DU unit, said, “Quota revise movement is a logical one because protesters are demanding to champion PM promises at parliament soon.”
After the human chain, the agitating students went to DU Proctor office and sought for explanation from Proctor Professor AKM Golam Rabbany for his inaction over BCL attacks on his students on the campus.
However, Professor Rabbany didn’t provide any appropriate answer to the students and left the place hurriedly.
At RU, teachers and students demonstrated condemning BCL attack on quota reformists.
They staged a sit-in programme beside the grave of Shaheed Shamsuzzoha, who was shot dead by Pakistani military in front of the main gate of the university.
Earlier on Monday night, condemning the BCL attacks on general students Associate Professor Farid Uddin Khan of Economics Department of RU in his facebook profile declared that he would go to his office barefoot and would stand beside Zoha’s grave for an hour from 11:00 am keeping silence.
Department sources said, though Farid Uddin Khan came to the department on barefoot in the morning, the department chair and the university authorities resisted him not to go the shrine.
RU Economics Department Chair KBM Mahbubur Rahman told the students that he could not let Professor Farid go there as he might be assaulted.
However, five other teachers went to the Zoha’s grave at 11:00am expressing solidarity with Professor Farid and staged a silence sit-in programme at the shine for one hour.
The five teachers are Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib of Physics Department, Professor Baitul Mokkadesur Rahman of Pharmacy Department, Professor Iftikharul Alam Masud, Associate Professor Saiful Islam of Computer Science and Engineering Department, and Professor Aktar Banu Alpana of Education and Research Institute of the university.
Following the teachers, several hundreds of general students also expressed solidarity with the teachers and joined the programme.
The students demanded fair probe into the attack on Parishad’s RU unit joint convener Tariqul Islam Tariq, whose right leg had been totally broken, arrest of the BCL men who attacked Tariq, and ensuring overall security on campus.
They also declared that they would observe the same programme today (Wednesday) at the same venue and same time.
Meanwhile, BCL leaders and activists tried to bring a procession where the teachers and students were staging sit-in at 12:00pm. However, the university authorities and the law enforcers refrained them at the university Paris Road and forced the general students to leave the place at 12:15pm.
RU Proctor Lutfor Rahman said that they made both groups leave the place as they feared that there might be a clash.
