The arrest of an intern doctor as an operative of the Jam'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) has taken the principal of Bangladesh’s top medical college completely by surprise.
Published : 16 Aug 2016, 10:32 PM
“I was just shocked,” Prof Md Ismail Khan of Dhaka Medical College (DMC) told bdnews24.com after RAB arrested ‘Oishi’ along with three other female members of the banned militant outfit.
The others have been identified as Manarat University pharmacy department students Aklima Rahman, ‘Mou’ and ‘Meghna’.
Prof Ismail said Oishi was a student of K-68 of the medical college and she began internship in June.
“She was a regular student and passed her exams regularly,” he said. She was wearing complete hijab.
“It’s a new alarm. We had no clue about her link with militancy since she was a regular student.”
The principal said five years ago, the registration of a student was cancelled three years after his admission as he never attended classes.
“We reported that student to police. We heard he also joined the militant group. But we cannot say that he is a DMC student as his registration has been cancelled,” Prof Ismail said, responding to a question.
Two classmates of Oishi, preferring anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, told bdnews24.com that she was “very conservative” and was “not sociable”.
RAB said both her parents are doctors. Father Biswas Akter Hossain works at the DMCH and mother Nasima Sultana is a gynaecologist at the Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital.
Prof Ismail told bdnews24.com that the father was a chest specialist. “He was just transferred from the Chest Hospital to DMCH a couple of days back.”
A doctor said Oishi’s father has political affiliations with the ruling Awami League’s doctor’s wing Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad (Swachip).
The principal said they would discuss the issue in the next academic council meeting, but have already advised students to keep an eye on their classmates.
“In the last one month we had a series of meetings with different stakeholders. We have increased security measures in the campus following the terror attack on July 1. But this is completely new to us,” he said.
Educational institutions have come under the police scanner after the terrorists of the Dhaka cafe siege were found to be students of private universities.