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Students are protesting to press for five demands, including the resignation of the university's vice chancellor
Published : 19 Feb 2025, 03:22 PM
A Jubo Dal leader has been expelled by the organisation after a photo of him holding a machete during a clash at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, or KUET, went viral on social media.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Central Executive Committee of the BNP's youth affiliate confirmed the expulsion of Mahbubur Rahman, the vice-president of the Jubo Dal's Daulatpur Thana unit, due to his involvement in actions that violated the organisation's disciplinary code.
The Jubo Dal also said that it would not take responsibility for Mahbubur's actions.
More than 50 people were injured after clashes broke out between Chhatra Dal, the BNP's student wing, and Anti-Discrimination Student Movement leaders and activists on the KUET campus on Tuesday over a demand to ban student politics.
Following the incident, law-enforcing agencies have been stationed at the main gate of KUET since Wednesday morning and the army has been seen patrolling the campus. No classes or exams were held, and some students were observed leaving the residential halls.
Khulna Metropolitan Police's Additional Deputy Commissioner (North) Md Najmul Hasan Rajib said that five people were arrested on Tuesday night in connection with the clash. However, no formal charges have been filed and police remain stationed at the campus gate.
After the clashes, students of KUET have boycotted all classes and exams 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.
They alleged that the Chhatra Dal and local BNP leaders and activists had carried out planned attacks on university students.
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.
