KUET clashes: Call for vice chancellor’s resignation, boycott of classes and exams

Students have set a deadline of 1pm on Wednesday to meet their five-point list of demands

After clashes between the Anti-discrimination Student Movement and the Chhatra Dal, students of the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, or KUET, have boycotted all classes and examinations to push for a five-point list of demands.

The demands include a ban on student politics on campus and the resignation of the university's Vice-Chancellor Mohammad Mashud.

A group of students presented these demands at a press briefing at the KUET Central Medical Center on Tuesday night. However, they did not wish to disclose their names.

They alleged that the Chhatra Dal -- the student wing of the BNP -- and local BNP leaders and activists had carried out planned attacks on university students.

Clashes broke out on the KUET campus on Tuesday afternoon over a demand to ban student politics from the campus. More than 50 people were injured.

Witnesses said that Chhatra Dal leaders and activists conducted a programme on the campus in the morning and a group of students launched a counter-protest calling on the institution to ban student politics.

When the protesting students reached the central mosque on the campus, the two sides began to clash.

The situation deteriorated when BNP leaders and activists from Religate, Teligati and the surrounding areas joined the Chhatra Dal and the general students and leaders and activists of the Chhatra Shibir -- members of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing -- joined the students of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement.

Later, two platoons of the BGB were deployed on the campus to bring the situation under control. The injured were treated at various clinics in the vicinity, including Khulna Medical College Hospital and KUET Medical Center.

A group of students came to the medical centre for a press briefing at night to present their five-point list of demands and blamed the Chhatra Dal for the attack. Their demands are:

- An ordinance should be issued stating that no university student, teacher, official, employee or subordinate can be directly or indirectly involved in any politics. The ordinance should clearly state that a failure to do so will result in the permanent firing of teachers, officers and employees and the expulsion of students and the scrapping of their student status.

- The administration should file a case of attempted murder and sabotage against those involved in the attack on students on Tuesday as well as the teachers, officials and employees who supported them. All those involved should be expelled and their student status should be cancelled. The students will provide a list of those involved.

- Adequate military personnel should be deployed outside the campus until Feb 28 for the safety of students.

- The administration should bear the medical expenses of all those injured in the attack. The students will provide a list of the injured.

- The vice chancellor, associate vice chancellor and director of student welfare should accept responsibility for their failures in the incident, offer an unconditional apology, and resign.

The students set a deadline of 1pm on Wednesday to meet these demands. It was said that all academic activities, including classes and exams, should be boycotted until the demands are met. However, the students warned the authorities not to close the halls under any circumstances.

At a university syndicate meeting on Aug 11, it was declared that politics was banned for students, teachers and officials and employees. However, students allege that some groups are trying to restart political groups on campus.

After Tuesday's clash, some members of the KUET Chhatra Dal claimed that a group of Chhatra Shibir members in the Anti-discrimination Student Movement and supporters of the fallen government's student organisation had attempted to disrupt Chhatra Dal politics on and around the campus. They allege that the clashes on the campus took place as a result of this.

A statement from the Khulna BNP said, "Chhatra Shibir has seriously injured unarmed students by ambushing Chhatra Dal leaders and activists to try and inflame Khulna. Chhatra Shibir has been conducting terrorist activities in the city under different banners at different times without clarifying its position, which is not at all acceptable. Chhatra Shibir wants to disrupt a peaceful Khulna. The Shibir cadres who attacked must be arrested immediately. Otherwise, the administration will be responsible for whatever situation arises."

On the other hand, Khulna Metropolitan Chhatra Shibir President Arafat Hossain Milon said, “Chhatra Shibir has no connection with the KUET incident. I have heard that Chhatra Dal and BNP leaders and activists attacked ordinary students and injured many. We condemn the attack and demand justice for those involved.”

Abdul Hannan Masud, the central chief organiser of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, wrote in a Facebook post: “By conducting brutal attacks in the style of the banned terrorist organisation Chhatra League at KUET, the Chhatra Dal is moving towards digging its own political grave on campuses.”