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		BUET closed sine die !
		Shame to Autocratic and Fanatic Government of Bangladesh ! From:  "Dr. Ajoy Roy" Date:  Sun Sep 15, 2002  3:03 am Subject:  What is happening in BUET? Dear Muktomonas,  What is happening in BUET, one of our prestigious higher educational Institutions ? Some thing must be wrong with BUET education system. We must identify and rectify them. Why BUET education is leading us to retrograded views and narrowness instead of progressive looking attitude and liberalism ? These are the questions agitating my mind. Because the events in last few days indicate BUET administration has fallen into the hands of a wrong set of people. In the second part (II) I would send some photographs of police excess. (Read more)  Ajoy Roy  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/7701        BUET closed sine die Police-students battle leaves 50 hurt Daily Star Staff Correspondent The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) yesterday was closed indefinitely following pitched battle between police and agitating students on the campus all day long.     The violence later spilled on to the adjacent Dhaka University (DU) campus, leaving some 50 students injured. Police clubbed and teargassed the agitating students, who retaliated with brickbats, according to eyewitnesses and campus sources.     The country's premier engineering university was closed only 28 days after it was reopened on August 11, ending an unscheduled vacation of two months. BUET was closed on June 9 in the face of student unrest triggered by the killing of university student Sabequn Nahar Sony the day before. All the residential students were asked to leave their halls by 5:00pm yesterday.   Activists of the ruling BNP's student front, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), also teamed up with police in the swoop on the agitating students and dispersed the students who tried to continue their sit-in on the BUET and DU campuses to drive home their seven-point demand, witnesses said.   Withdrawal of punitive actions on some students, arrest of the killers of Sony and lifting of restriction on student politics are among the seven demands of the agitating students. A group of BUET students began a 'fast unto to death' on the campus on September 2 to force the authorities to meet the demands.   Authorities' attempts to contain the fresh agitation led to yesterday's trouble. As police-student clashes continued, BUET Vice-chancellor Prof. Md. Alee Murtuza declared the university closed sine die at 1.30pm.   "Some students in the name of fasting have destabilised the campus situation by breaking discipline and misleading the general students. This has caused a sharp decline in the law and order and badly affected academic atmosphere on the university campus," said an emergency order issued by the VC.       Reading out the order before journalists, Prof. Murtuza referred to an ultimatum given by some 20 student representatives during a siege laid before his office by the agitating students.   He also claimed the agitators snapped power and telephone lines to the BUET administrative building and locked up all the gates of his office.   In this circumstances, he added, the university has been closed to maintain law and order and protect life and property of its teachers, students and staff.   In three hours of the closure, the students vacated all the eight residential halls including one for the female students with police making frequent announcements through loudspeakers.   However, the violence that erupted at 11.30am continued even after the university was closed and the halls were vacated. The series of clashes came to an end when police drove the agitating students out of the BUET-DU area at around 7:00pm.   Yesterday's trouble began at 11.30am when hundreds of students laid a siege in front of the VC's office, locked all the three gates of the office and served a one-hour ultimatum on the authorities to accept their demands.   An hour later, police attacked the agitators. They charged batons and lobbed teargas canisters, injuring many of the protesters including some girls. A group of JCD activists then attacked the demonstrators who moved from the VC office to the cafeteria.   However, the general students chased the JCD workers out of the area. Mokammel Hayat Muki, prime accused in the Sony murder case, was reportedly among the marauding JCD activists, while other accused killers of Sony led the attack on hunger- striking students.   At around 12:30pm, the VC called in three platoons of paramilitary BDR to reinforce security on the campus where riot police were deployed earlier. At this stage, the protesters declared the venue of their sit-in a free zone. This prompted some 1,500 students to join the sit-in.   Protests marked by the students' rendering songs continued until 3:45pm when police asked the protesters to leave the campus. "The university has been declared closed. Leave the campus in three minutes," police continued saying through loudspeaker.   As police threatened action in case of disobedience, the protesters including those who had been fasting since September 2 started moving towards the Central Shaheed Minar. But police attacked them again near the Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University. Dispersed by the firing of teargas canisters by police, some of the protesters took refuge in a nearby mosque. Police also fired teargas canisters inside the mosque. Besides, they kicked at least three female students namely Susan, Faria and Mahin of architecture department.   Angered by the latest police action, the students staged a sit-in demonstration at the Jagannath Hall crossing, as police barred them from proceeding towards the Shaheed Minar. Police drove away a few students who managed to reach the Minar.   Again, police asked the demonstrators to leave the spot in a minute. The protesters then moved to the TSC area of Dhaka University with police following them. Some of the protesters alleged that police took away their luggage kept in a bus, which was being used by police.   The third round of police action against the protesters took place at the TSC area where another sit-in was staged at about 5:40pm. They again used teargas and batons to scatter the agitators. The JCD activists also joined the police during the action.   The agitating students staged their last sit-in behind the DU Central Library before police forced them out of the DU campus. Later on, the students marched towards the Jatiya Press Club http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/7635

 

		Shame to Autocratic and Fanatic Government of Bangladesh !
		I lost all sense to expression to condemn the Government Hooliganism in BUET and express my hatred to them. I can't think how one can beat the fasting students who were being given saline. Muki (killer of Sony) group and Shibir cadres in presence of POLICE and BDR snatched away saline tubes from fasting students and broke chairs, tables and misical instruments and assulted the peaceful general students. When one cadre was caught by the general students, police came in action and took him away and started beating the fasting and general students, they did not even leave the female students also. VC, BUET claimed that he ordered police to take action against fasting and demonstrating students. How fine autocratic and puppet and shameless VC he is?   Setara Hashem  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/7634

 

		An e-mail From a BUET Student

 

		Uneasy calm at BUET, DU
		The Independent DU Correspondent An uneasy calm was prevailing on the campuses of Dhaka University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) yesterday. Heavy contingents of police kept both the campuses and the Central Shahid Minar under virtual siege. Police obstructed the students from entering the BUET Shahid Minar as well as the Central Shahid Minar. They also prevented the students from bringing out procession. Police allegedly assaulted some photojournalists at the entrance of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital where three hunger-striking students of BUET were admitted. Police arrested nine leaders of three student organisations from Dhaka University campus yesterday for bringing out procession on the campus. The arrested leaders were not students of Dhaka University. ....(Read More)

 

		The BUET mess
		Daily Star Editorial (Tue. September 10, 2002) Using police to deal with students too costly for the govt THERE are three issues that we want to comment on. First the police action, second the handling of the incident by the BUET authorities and the education ministry, and finally the demands of the students. We strongly condemn the police excesses and the brutal way in which they attacked with tear gas and baton charged the students. There was no reported violence in the events of Sunday that necessitated the use of such force. The police could have used peaceful means to disperse the students and clear the VC's office of the demonstrating students. Instead of calming the situation police went straight for the use of force which in fact turned the situation for worse than it needed to be. When asked the BUET VC said he ordered the deployment of police but professed ignorance about police brutalities. We consider the VC's action ill judged, resulting more from panic than from clear thinking.  ....  (Read More)

 

 

		BUET scene
		Independent Editorial (Tue. September 10, 2002) BUET is passing through a grave crisis. And the crisis has deepened further with the police action against the agitating students on Sunday last. The university authorities failed to reach an understanding with the students, who had gone on a hunger strike to drive home their four-point demands. The BUET authorities could not do anything better than closing the university once again. The students were asked to vacate the dormitories, and academic activities in the country’s only university which was never known for strident and violent students politics, have been suspended, for the second time in less than three months. ....  (Read More)

Photo-courtesy: e-mela, Jugantor, Daily star, Prothom Alo

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