Boycott on at RU sociology dept

Teachers at Rajshahi University’s sociology department will boycott classes for another nine days in protest against the killing of their colleague AKM Shafiul Islam.

The members of the university teachers’ association had stopped taking classes and exams from Sunday, the day after Islam, a sociology teacher, was hacked to death near the university campus.

All departments except that of sociology resumed work on Wednesday.

“We’re mourning the loss of our colleague. We will not be at peace until Prof Shafiul’s killers are caught,” said department chairperson Wardatul Akmam.

“So our department will boycott all classes and tests until Nov 27.”

Teachers’ association General Secretary Pranab Kumar Pandey said other wings had got back to work on Wednesday after staying away as part of their 15-day protest plan.

Shafiul Islam is the third Rajshahi University teacher to have been killed in a decade after the killings of geology professor S Taher in 2006 and economics teacher Md Yunus Ali in 2004.

Police said when 11 suspects were produced in court on Wednesday that they had information on the involvement of a militant body controlled by the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Meanwhile, a human chain was formed outside the university’s man gate on Wednesday morning.

Students and various political and social organisations took part in the protest staged by the Rajshahi unit of the Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee.