Nurul-Rashed conflict 'solved amicably' hours after show cause notices

A dispute between Nurul Haque Nur and Rashed Khan over the leadership of Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad has been solved for the time being.

Both leaders on Sunday evening made the announcements of the solution of their problems after the day-long counter statements between the two .

Nurul Haque Nur in a statement in Facebook on Sunday evening said, “A joint meeting of Bangladesh Chhatra, Jubo and Sramik Odhikhar Parishad has decided to reinstate Chhatra Odhikar Parishad’s acting convener Mohammad Rashed Khan and joint convener Sohrab Hossain in their respective posts. Also, the central leaders were asked to hold councils of Chhatra Odhikar Parishad within 30 July and Jubo Odhikar Parishad within 17 September to form new committees.”

Rashed also gave a Facebook status simultaneously expressing apology over the incident and said the misunderstanding with Nurul has been resolved.

“There was a misunderstanding between Nur and me, which has been resolved through a discussion. We hope we would be more cautious in future,” he wrote.

Rashed also said he had good relations with Nur since the beginning of the quota reform movement and they will try to remain united.

Earlier, a rift in the leadership of Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad became visible as former DUCSU vice president Nurul Haque Nur and parishad leader Muhammad Rashed Khan had served show cause notices on each other.

Nurul in a statement published in Facebook served a show cause notice on the organisation’s acting convenor Rashed Khan and joint convenor Md Sohrab Hossain.

He also relieved the two leaders of their duties temporarily. On the other hand, Rashed issued a counter show cause notice to Nurul questioning his legitimacy to serve the show cause notice.

Bangladesh Sadharan Chhatra Odhikar Parishad (Bangladesh General Students' Rights Protection Council) was formed in 2018 demanding abolition of quota system in the government job.

Nurul was elected VP of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) in the polls held in March 2019. Akhter Hossain of the organisation was elected social welfare secretary. The organisation changed its name to Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad in February 2020.

Nurul announced his foray into politics by forming three separate organisations named Jubo, Sramik and Prabashi Odhikar Parishad. Nurul announced himself coordinator of the three organisations. But Rashed maintains there is no such post in these organisations.

Nurul published more than one statement in Facebook on Saturday night terming himself ‘coordinator’ of Chhatra, Jubo and Sramik Odhikar Parishad.

One statement said a joint meeting of the three organisations has decided to abolish the central committee of Chhatra Odhikar Parishad. Another statement said Rashed and Sohrab have been relieved of their posts for involvement in anti-disciplinary activities. The statement also asked the two leaders to explain to the probe body why they would not be permanently expelled from the party.

Rashed in a counter statement in Facebook said Chhatra Odhikar Parishd’s acting convenor, joint conveners Faruque Hasan, Mashiur Rahman, Sohrab Hossain, Mahfuzur Rahman and many other leaders were absent at the said joint meeting. The meeting had no authority to abolish the central committee in absence of central leaders.

The statement also alleged that there is no post of ‘coordinator’ and Nurul has to explain why disciplinary action would not be taken against him.

Many leaders of the organisation said financial transactions, Nurul’s bid to establish supremacy in the party command and lack of accountability led to the confrontation of Nurul with some other leaders for some time. Some leaders of the organisation questioned Nurul for using a new car. All these led to confrontation among the leaders.

Asked, Rashed Khan told Prothom Alo on Sunday, “Nurul cannot dissolve the central committee as he is a joint convener of Chattra Odhikar Parishad. Many leaders were absent at the meeting and most of them don’t know anything about the decision. We can announce the date of the new council dissolving the convening committee, but a joint convener (Nurul) can’t do it. So we have asked him to show cause within seven working days.”

Rashed said being elected as DUCSU VP Nurul has gained Nurul some sort of acceptability and popularity. And he is always given priority for that, but it does not mean that he will dissolve the committee in such a way.

Nurul Haque Nur told Prothom Alo, “Relieving Rashed and Sohrab of their responsibilities was an internal matter. We didn’t want Rashed to become controversial at this moment or want anybody to raise questions about our organisation. We wanted to keep it within our organisation and punish them so that they will be corrected in future. But Rashed issued a statement publicly forcing us to issue a counter statement.”

“Different agencies of the government want to instigate us in various ways. As we posed a challenge to the government, they wanted to influence us at different times,” Nurul added.

Asked about the reason to dismiss Rashed and Sohrab, Nurul said many ‘sensitive conversations’ of five including Rashed and Sohrab have surfaced. They opened an ill-motivated Messenger group.

Nurul said they took the decision to warn Rashed and Sohrab.

Nurul denied allegations of buying a new car, misunderstanding over the financial transactions and other allegations raised against him.