Under fire from all quarters over the publication of a piece containing botched-up history in the anniversary souvenir, Dhaka University Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddiqui has blamed registrar Syed Rezaur Rahman for the fiasco.
Published : 01 Jul 2016, 07:35 PM
According to the VC, the author is to blame for the faux pas and has been sacked accordingly.
The controversial article published in the 95th Dhaka University Day souvenir and authored by the acting registrar describes the history of the halls of the university.
While writing about the Ziaur Rahman Hall, the author introduces Bangladesh's first military strongman General Ziaur Rahman as “the first president of Bangladesh, former chief of Army and valiant freedom fighter”.
This sparked a powerful outburst of protests on the campus, prompting demonstrators even to attack the vice-chancellor’s car and demand that he resign.
After a day of violent protests, the VC attended a press conference at his residence on Friday evening and conceded that some “very serious errors” had been spotted in one of the pieces in the souvenir.
He said that since the piece was a byline piece, the author was primarily at fault and has been sacked. Copies of the souvenir have been confiscated, he said.
He added that only a probe could reveal if the mistakes were intentional or inadvertent.
Speaking at the press conference, VC Siddique said, “It was the university’s foundation day today. On this occasion a souvenir was released during a discussion to mark the day. We immediately marked that there are mistakes in it. So copies of the souvenir were withdrawn during the event itself.”
Protests were staged throughout the day on the campus, leading even to damage of university property.
In the afternoon, a group of Chhatra League activists attacked the vice-chancellor’s car in front of his bungalow.
Speaking about the incident, the VC said, “I was outside the university. When I returned my car was attacked, you are aware of that.”