Haji Selim’s grip on Old Dhaka dormitory won’t slacken so soon

Jagannath University is looking to the government to take back the Tibet Hall from the clutches of MP Haji Mohammad Selim but the chances of attaining the goal are slim.

The students have taken to the streets against Selim several times, but MP Kazi Firoz Rashid, who heads a government committee on the issue, could not give them any word of hope.

A parliament member of Dhaka-7 constituency, Haji Selim constructed ‘Gulshan Ara City Market’, naming it after his wife, at the site of the dormitory in Old Dhaka’s Waizghat.

Selim’s lawyer has denied the allegation of annexing the Tibet Hall land, claiming Selim owns it and the authorities have no documents to prove that it belonged to the university.

The students held protests demanding swift steps from the government and the university administration to reclaim the dormitory on Thursday after the jailing of Selim’s son Erfan.

Attempts to reach Selim for comment on the matter by phone went unanswered. He has remained out of the public eye since his son, Erfan Selim, landed in prison over the possession of illegal walkie-talkies and liquor a day after the alleged assault of a navy officer.

An aide to Selim declined to comment and advised the bdnews24.com reporter to speak to the MP’s lawyer Pran Nath Debnath.

“The hall does not belong to Jagannath University. It was bought from the property owner 15-20 years ago,” said Pran Nath, claiming to have documents.

Jagannath University students demonstrate demanding government step to take back Tibet Hall from MP Haji Mohammad Selim’s grip.

“We want the authorities to make a move,” said Mahmudul Hasan Mishu, a joint general secretary of the university unit of Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights who is leading the ongoing movement for the hall.

According to media reports and university documents from the 1990s, the students of the university, the then Jagannath College, had set up hostels by seizing abandoned buildings in Old Dhaka but had to leave following protests by local people in 1985.

After the institution was elevated to a university in 2005, the students held movements to reclaim the halls from the possession of influential local individuals.

But they retrieved two of the 11 hostels -- Habibur Rahman Hall and Nazrul Islam Hall. Students and staff reside in these dormitories now. Tibet Hall on a 14.69 decimal land is among the nine dormitories yet to reclaimed.

EFFORTS WENT IN VAIN

Kumartuli Hall was renamed Tibet Hall after a student who died in a turf war between the factions of Jatiya Chhatra Samaj, the student wing of the Jatiya Party, according to Alamgir Sikdar Loton, former vice-president of the last Jagannath College Central Students’ Council in the late 1980s.

Loton, a former leader of the Chhatra Samaj, said around 300-400 students used to live in the two-storey building until 1992 even after the government asked them to vacate the old structures after the collapse of the Dhaka University’s Jagannath Hall in 1985.

FM Shariful Islam, a former president of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Jagannath University unit, led a movement to reclaim the halls in 2014.

He said Haji Selim had taken control of the Tibet Hall site when locals protested against “controversial” activities of the members of Chhatra Samaj. Selim was a ward commissioner at that time.

He was elected an MP for the first time in 1996 and is serving a third term.

The students launched the 2014 movement when Selim criticised the Chhatra League in parliament. They laid a siege to Gulshan Ara Market leading to a huge clash with the police.

MP Haji Mohammad Selim has constructed Gulshan Ara City Market by tearing down Tibet Hall, a building previously used by Jagannath University students.

At that time, Selim had denied allegations of grabbing the hall and said that he constructed the market on a property he bought from Old Dhaka’s Khawaja Abdullah Welfare Trust.

Earlier, in 2009, the Ministry of Education formed a six-member committee to investigate and reclaim the hall and other assets of the university after a movement by the students.

The committee recommended taking back five halls, including Tibet, on lease. The university administration’s appeal for a long-term lease of the halls remained inconclusive.

The education ministry formed a high-powered committee to reclaim the hall in 2014 after the movement.

A member of that committee, Shariful said Selim sold the shops to traders after constructing the market on the Tibet Hall land.

“They have the papers. We could not regain possession of the hall as we did not have any document.”

He is doubtful about the success of the recent movement. “But everything is possible if the government wants.”

“After taking a look at everything, we perceived that it is not possible to reclaim the halls. We don’t have any papers, the students have gradually lost control. Others have occupied the halls. The documents and records are now in their [new owners] possession,” said MP Rashid, who headed the 2014 committee.

The government finally decided to relocate the entire campus to Keraniganj, shunning the efforts to reclaim the halls.