BCL men attack teachers, students supporting quota reform
Pro-ruling party student activists allegedly attacked students and teachers of Dhaka University at a quota protest rally at Central Shaheed Minar on Sunday.
A group of teachers and students brought out a procession on DU demanding the release of arrested students, trial of those who attacked quota demonstrators, and quota reform in public services.
They first formed a human chain at Shaheed Minar and as they marched on the campus, dozens of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists attacked them, according to witnesses.
The precisionists were dispersed as the BCL men chased them.
Witnesses said the BCL men were 'deployed' at different spots in and around Dhaka University campus to stop the demonstrators.
Quite a number of teachers and female students were assaulted and injured in the attack.
Md Tanzimuddin Khan of the international relations department and Fahmidul Haq and Abdur Razzak of mass communication and journalism were injured.
"We've come with 120 Chhatra League activists from Badrunnesa [Government Girls'] College," a BCL activist named Popy said.
The BCL men chanted slogans against the teachers terming them as collaborators of Pakistan.
Talking to UNB, professor Abdur Razzaque Khan said, "There is no security for both the teachers and the students on the campus now. General people have no right to stage protest."
Contacted, BCL general secretary SM Jakir Hossain denied the involvement of any BCL leaders and activists in the attack. He claimed it to be a clash between two groups of quota protesters. General students and teachers of the university, however, said there is no basis of such claim as there is no rift among the quota reform activities.
Associate professor Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan of International Relations department in his Facebook post said, no teacher and student is safe in the university as some teachers, who have lost their humanity, are in the administrative leadership.
Prof Tanzim also claimed in the post that five of the BCL activists followed him to his residence and one of them continuously clicked pictures of the professor.
Proctor professor Golam Rabbani told him that they cannot do whatever they wish along with the general students and asked professor Tanzimuddin why they went to the Shahid Minar without the permission of the Proctorial body, wrote the professor in his status, adds UNB.
In another Facebook post, Fahmidul Haq, professor of Mass Communication and Journalism department, gave a firsthand description of the incidents those took place at the Shahid Minar.
As soon as the teachers-students protest programme started, some BCL members started giving speeches and creating noises using micrphone within a few metres. They continued these as long as the protesting teachers and students were delivering their speeches, he said.
When the protest programme came to an end, they started attacking the students leaving some of the journalists injured.
"No one from the proctorial team was there, not even a single police. Everything was kept insecure so that BCL could attack the students," he wrote.
When contacted, the assistant proctor said, if the situation worsens, the teachers will remain responsible for that as they did not inform the proctorial team about the programme.
In April, students of public and private universities across the country waged a strong demonstration demanding reforms in the quota system in public service recruitment process.
In the face of the demonstration, prime minister Sheikh Hasina announced in parliament on 11 April the abolition of all types of quotas in public jobs.
As no gazette notification has so far been issued regarding the abolishment of the quota system as per the PM's declaration, the leaders and activists of Bangladesh General Students' Rights Protection Council, a platform that leads the quota reform movement, resumed their protests at different public universities and they repeatedly came under attacks allegedly by BCL men.
Amid the demonstration, the prime minister on Thursday in parliament said that it is not possible to change freedom fighters' quota in public jobs due to a High Court verdict.