Obaidul Quader warns students of political foul play in non-political campaign

Politics sneaked into the non-political protests carried out by students with calls for safe roads, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has said.

“People think the students’ nine-point demand is logical. The government has taken steps to translate them into reality,” Quader said after a meeting at the party president’s offices in Dhanmondi on Saturday.

“But we are concerned that there is an intrusion of evil political forces into the logical and innocent movement. We are receiving reports on the political intrusion into the student movement.”

Showing a picture of Sultan Sulaiman, a leader of the Dhaka College unit of BNP’s Chhatra Dal, who participated in the protests, Quader said: “When the turnout of innocent students was thin on the roads after evening, they sneaked into the movement and instigated the students to attack the buses.”

“To mask their failure to launch a broader movement, the evil political forces infiltrated the student movement and tried to turn the logical campaign into an illogical one. They are just trying to create a chaotic situation injecting poison into the non-political movement of school and college students.”

“They are trying to fish in troubled waters.”

Quader, also the road transport minister, urged the students to be vigilant against any foul play in the non-political movement.

Asked why the government did not bring the infiltrators under the law, Quader said: “We are watching them and observing their roles with patience. Police and intelligence agencies are gathering the photos of infiltrators.”

Quader cited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instruction for law-enforcement agencies not to crack down on the children.