Outcry against campus violence in Bangladesh

DHAKA - The killing of a student and the severing of tendons of four students making them unfit to stand or walk at a university in western Bangladesh have sparked an outcry against campus violence.

The student was killed and 100 injured by those belonging to the Islami Chatra Shibir in Rajshahi University in western Bangladesh.

The cutting of tendons has caused revulsion in the media.

Six hundred Shibir activists have been named and 48 arrested by police. The university authorities have suspended classes and postponed examinations following violence that erupted Wednesday.

The violence this week was the result of turf war between the Shibir and the Bangladesh Chhatra League, student arm of the ruling Awami league.

Chhatra League leaders have been accused of engaging in violence, extortion and other crimes, leading to protest resignation from the league last year by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

There has been intermittent campus violence since Hasina took office and the Chhatra League cadres’ efforts to wrest control of the campus was resisted by the Shibir that gained control during the reign of Khaleda Zia (2001-06).

Shibir is the successor of the Islami Chhatra Sangha before Bangladesh’s independence and which actively helped Pakistani occupation forces in 1971 to commit genocide and other war crimes during the freedom movement, The Daily Star said Thursday.

The newspaper alleged that the leaders of the Sangha are now heading the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party.

“Shibir never mentions that the original name of their organisation was Islami Chhatra Sangha. However, Motiur Rahman Nizami, incumbent president of Jamaat-e-Islami, was president of central Islami Chhatra Sangha.

“Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid was the president of East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha in 1971,” the newspaper alleged.

After independence, the government’s decision to ban four communal parties, including Jamaat, resulted in the halt of the Sangha operations.

Bangladesh is known for its volatile campuses since the British era. Its universities threw up leaders through the last century.

Efforts to curb campus violence by successive governments have failed.

Student activism has preceded and followed each change of government. The military authorities were quick to swoop down on the campus to curb political activity.

Campus violence is largely confined to the government-managed universities. It does not touch several private universities and educational institutions that have sprung up in recent years.