Silent march at JU: 'State still trying to hush up everything'

Jahangirnagar University teachers brought out a silent procession on the campus on Tuesday, protesting 'forceful abduction, killings, assaults, and detention of students and masses' over the quota reform movement. 

Throughout the protest programme, they gagged over their faces with red clothes to express their defiance to the governments’ dealings towards the students and their protests.

Addressing a rally following the procession, Mahmuda Akand, a philosophy department professor, said the state is yet to admit its responsibilities in the killings during the quota reform movement, and is still busy in exploring ways to hush up everything.

“The state is crying crocodile tears today; the state declared a state mourning, but finds it difficult to agree on the actual number of martyrs. The state is not bothered yet to identify the actual martyrs,” she alleged. 

The professor labeled the killings during the movement as ‘July Massacre’, and alleged that the state still has no empathy for the murdered ones.

“I want to ask the state, and those who are terming this movement as violence – who are you making developments for? Those who are you making developments for are being gunned down on streets, being martyred... but you have still been indifferent. Nobody is taking responsibility. The whole responsibilities go to the state, to the government,” she stated.

The programme took place around 12:30 pm on the campus, under the banner ‘Jahangirnagar Against Assaults’. The protesting students of the university, under the banner ‘Students Against Discrimination,' also joined the teachers’ silent march, tying red clothes on their faces. 

They brought out the procession from the Shaheed Minar premises and marched through various roads on the campus.

Later, they observed a one-minute of silence before a monument erected near the Fazilatunnesa Hall to commemorate the individuals killed during the quota movement. Their programme ended with a rally on the Shaheed Minar premises.

On the occasion, Anwarullah Bhuiyan, another professor of the philosophy department, said the country has turned into a prison as the people are experiencing the governance of a ruler characterised by autocracy and maladministration.

“When the students took to the streets with their rational demands, all the state apparatus, including state forces, and other supporting organisations, attacked them, causing injuries. We have noticed that students are being detained en masse and being tortured in prisons. We strongly condemn these activities and demand their immediate release,” he said. 

Mafruhi Sattar, a pharmacy department professor, urged the authorities to save themselves as well as the people by admitting responsibilities for the incidents of torture and creating panic. 

“Number is not significant here. When a child is killed, all the people with conscience get united,” he said. 

Addressing the rally, the Jahangirnagar University coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination, Touhid Siyam, condemned the state mourning without disclosing the actual number of killings during the movement. 

“I say it categorically that the students have rejected the mourning declared by a state which is yet to announce the exact number of martyrs of the movement, and which is directly engaged with those killings,” he said. 

The student leader vowed to continue their movement until his fellow protesters who were killed get justice and their nine-point demand is met. 

Mridha Md. Shibli Noman, assistant professor of journalism and media studies department, moderated the programme, where Rayhan Rhyne, a philosophy department professor; Said Ferdous, an anthropology department professor; Adil Mohammad Khan, a professor of urban and regional planning department, and Masud Imran, a professor from archaeology department, among others, spoke.