Students strike down BUET until Abrar murderers are formally charged

A group of protesters at BUET have called a strike urging a boycott of classes and examinations until the murderers of their peer Abrar Fahad are formally charged.

A spokesman for the demonstrators made the announcement after daylong protests on Tuesday.

All sorts of academic and administrative work, including admission tests, will remain suspended, Abul Mansur, the spokesman and a student of 2015 batch, said.

The demonstrations will continue, Mansur said.

“Those yet to be caught must be arrested swiftly,” he insisted.

Vice-Chancellor Saiful Islam faced the ire of protesters when he visited the campus two days after the murder of Abrar.

The body of the second-year student of electrical and electronic engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology or BUET was found at the staircase of his residential hall on Monday early morning.

He died after allegedly being tortured by a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders and activists over a Facebook post protesting against a recent deal between Bangladesh and India.

Mansur demanded resignation of Sher-e-Bangla Hall Provost Zafar Iqbal Khan.

“He tried to cover the incident up instead of doing his duties,” the demonstrator alleged.

Abrar’s father Barkatullah, a former employee of the NGO BRAC, accused 19 people in a case over the murder.

Police arrested 13 student leaders of BCL’s BUET unit until Tuesday evening. The law enforcers said they were after the five other accused in the case.

The protesters called for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s intervention to speed up the trial of the murderers.

BCL has expelled 11 leaders and activists of its BUET unit over the incident.