A year after the incident, many Chittagong University bus bombers remain untraced

Even a year after the incident, police are yet to locate the whereabouts of many of those named in a firebomb attack on a Chittagong University teachers’ bus.

Police officers have described the lapse as ‘unfortunate’, while the teachers are disgruntled as the trial has not yet begun.
 
The teachers’ bus was attacked on Sep 10 last year during a strike called by the Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, to press for the opening of one of the hostels.
 
Fourteen people, including teachers, were injured in that incident at Balurtal near Hathazari.
 
Rabiul Islam, acting director of the CU’s transport department, had filed a case by accusing about 20 unnamed people of having carried out the attack.
 
When asked about the progress in the case, Hathazari Police Station Inspector (investigation) Md Salauddin told bdnews24.com: “The 14 people, held at different times, have been shown arrested in connection with the incident.”
 
“Md Touhid and Md Yusuf, two university students held right after the incident, have given confessional statements, which contain more names than of those 14 people.”
 
“But they could not be arrested,” he admitted, despite raids in the university and other places.
 
Salauddin described the failure to locate the others as “unfortunate”. He reasoned the accused would be let off if they were chargesheeted without ascertaining their whereabouts.
 
Kazi SM Khasrul Alam Quddusi, general secretary of the CU teachers’ association, expressed his displeasure over the government’s inability to get the trial started even after a year.
 
“This will embolden criminals to indulge in such acts,” he told bdnews24.com.                        
The teachers’ association formed a human chain in front of the university administrative building on Thursday to mark one year of the incident and demanded the attackers be brought to book.
 
University Vice-Chancellor Prof Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury said at the gathering, “It it unbelievable that teachers had been attacked by their students.”