Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Violence in eight out of 21 public universities because of political enmity, attempts to establish supremacy on the campuses, and irregularities in recruitment of staff have seriously affected their academic atmosphere.
   Violence is also taking place due to the sudden outburst of students’ resentment at the authority’s negligence in ensuring their basic amenities and various other irregularities.
   Violence in campuses is also spreading because of trifling matters, leading to fierce riots and subsequent deaths of students in police firing. One student was killed and more than 250 were injured in violence at the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Haji Danesh University of Science and Technology, Islamic University, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Jagannath University, Jahangirnagar University, University of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar University in the past few weeks.
   Outsiders on Sunday night attacked the students of Haji Danesh University of Science and Technology when they were protesting against the frequent power outages at the university.
   The students said that what enraged them was that though they have been suffering from frequent and prolonged load-shedding at night, there was no power outage during the installation programme of the Officers’ Association which was held on their campus. This discriminatory attitude of the authorities made the students furious so they laid siege to the power office.
   The students of two faculties of the Bangladesh Agricultural University, in spite of their contradictory demands, went on a rampage and kept the vice-chancellor and the registrar confined for some time.
   The students of the veterinary faculty were demanding 20 per cent job-oriented courses but the students of the animal husbandry faculty opposed their demand.
   The students of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology launched a severe agitation programme, setting fire to the residence of the vice-chancellor after the news of the death of a student in police firing reached the campus. They accused him of being indifferent to the student’ welfare and forced him to resign.
   The violence also caused the unscheduled closure of Shahjalal University and Islamic University whose students had to vacate their residential halls.
   The chaotic situation in Islamic University worsened further when the agitating students set ablaze the office of the university’s proctor.
   The university was closed down after violence spread on the campus and to Kushtia town because of the allegedly irregular appointment of 80 staffers at the university.
   About 42 vehicles including the cars of the treasurer and the registrar were vandalised, and the residence of the treasurer, registrar and a dean were attacked in the past four days.
   Violence also erupted at the campuses over the recurring road accidents. The Dhaka University students blockaded the busy Shahbagh intersection in the capital and damaged a number of vehicles after a student was run over by a bus. Same was the situation at the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology.
   Tension mounted at the Jagannath University over turf wars between the student fronts of the political parties who wanted to establish supremacy on the campus.
   The proctorial bodies at the affected universities formed inquiry committees to investigate the incidents but their reports are yet to be published.
   A number of violent incidents took place because of factional feuds in the ruling BNP’s student front, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
   The main cause of the clashes was establishment of supremacy or sharing of extortion money.
   Classes at the universities have been interrupted by violence and the biggest sufferers were those who were about to take their finals.
   Factional feuds have gripped most university units of the Chhatra Dal and have become acute at Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Jahangirnagar University and the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
   The BNP student front’s central president, Azizul Bari Helal, denied the existence of any factional feud within the Chhatra Dal. ‘There have been some stray incidents of violence but the local leaders have settled them,’ he said.
   ‘Some minor incidents usually occur within large organisations like the Chhatra Dal.’
   Apart from factional feuds, there were clashes between rival organisations at the universities. In most cases, clashes
   erupted when the ruling party’s student wings attacked their rivals.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division on Tuesday requested the home ministry to declare the country’s energy installations including gas fields and major oil depots as top key point installations (KPI-1) in the wake of violence in the garments sector.
   The energy and mineral resources adviser, Mahmudur Rahman phoned the home secretary, Safar Raj Hossain and requested him to provide security for the energy installations like the KPI-1s.
   The division also sent a letter to the home ministry in this regard.
   The division identified all gas fields, main gas transmission networks at Ashuganj, Demra and Chittagong city gates, Eastern Refinery Limited, all major oil depots, including those at Fatuallah, Godnail and Daulatpur, as KPI-1.
   Mahmud told New Age that some of these installations had already been declared as KPI, but those were not on the list of top KPIs.
   Referring to violence at garment factories in Dhaka, Mahmud feared that those ‘conspiring against the country’ might launch ‘similar attacks’ on energy installations as the energy sector was one of the ‘most successful’ sectors in Bangladesh.
   He said that he had also asked Petrobangla and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation to strengthen their own security.

Environmentalists, geologists and economists on Wednesday demanded that the proposed coal policy should be scrapped as the proposed policy, if finalised, would threaten the national energy security.
   There is no need of any separate coal policy; instead an integrated energy policy comprising the coal and gas sectors should be formulated, they told a seminar on the proposed coal policy.
   ‘The proposed policy encourages aggressive extraction of coal to facilitate foreign companies to export coal from Bangladesh,’ a former chairman of the Power Development Board, Nuruddin Mahmood Kamal, also a geologist, told the seminar organised by the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan at the National Press Club.
   There is no need of a separate coal policy and the government should formulate an integrated energy policy comprising the gas and coal sectors, the BAPA president, Professor Mozaffer Ahmad, said.
   ‘As it is assumed that the country’s gas reserve might be finished by 2015, we have to look for alternative energy sources like coal. For this an integrated energy policy is needed,’ he said.
   Former Petrobangla chairman SK Abdullah, also a geologist, said the draft policy had been designed to facilitate the Asia Energy to export coal from the Phulbari filed.
   ‘How can the country’s energy security be ensured if the government allows 60 per cent coal to be exported?’ questioned economist Anu Mohammad of the Jahangirnagar University.
   The convenor of Phulbari Protection Committee, Shahjahan Ali Sarkar, also the chairman of Phulbari municipality, said, ‘We do not want our fertile land that gives us three crops a year destroyed. The government has no right to allow Asia Energy to destroy our land.’
   Professor Shamshul Alam of the Chittagong University and Dhaka University professors Hossain Mansur, MM Akash and Asif Nazrul also addressed the seminar.

Different political and social organisations on Wednesday condemned the rampage of different garment factories in Dhaka, Savar and Gazipur in the past few days.
   Some organisations, however, condemned attack on workers of the garment factories who were agitating to realise their demands, including reasonable wages.
   The National Awami Party secretary general, Abul Kalam Azad, said torching of garment factories, blade factories and medicine factories was the expression of local and foreign conspiracy against the country to hold back the flourishing industry and economy of the country.
   The Bangladesh Indenting Agents’ Association at a press release expressed its grave concern over the attack on garment factories and urged the government to take urgent measures to protect the garment industry.
   President of Karmajibi Nari Shirin Akhtar said the attack on the garment factories took place when the BGMEA failed to make its members follow the existing labour law.

The government has appointed M Abdul Hannan, currently serving as Bangladesh deputy high commissioner to Karachi, as the next ambassador to Nepal.
   A career diplomat, Hannan joined the BCS (Foreign Affairs) cadre in 1986.
   Meanwhile, M Humayun Kabir, currently Bangladesh ambassador to Nepal, has been made the next high commissioner to Australia.
   A career diplomat, Humayun Kabir joined the BCS (Foreign Affairs) cadre in 1981. Before serving as the ambassador to Kathmandu, he served in Bangladesh missions in Washington, Kolkata and New York in different capacities.

Ten people including Kala Jahangir, one of the 23 most-wanted criminals of the Dhaka city, were sentenced to death on Wednesday for the killing of a Dhaka city ward commissioner, Saidur Rahman Newton, at Dhanmondi four years back.
   Shahed Noor Uddin, judge of the Speedy Trial Tribunal–1 in Dhaka, also sentenced six others to life-term rigorous imprisonment with fines of Tk 50,000 each. In default, they have to suffer one year more RI.
   The court acquitted two others — Ripon Khan, vice-president of Manikganj Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal unit, and Raqibul Bari Raqib of the charge as the prosecution failed to prove the allegations brought against them.
   One of the condemned convicts, Abbas alias Killer Abbas, was present at the court while nine others — Kala Jahangir, Mohammad Khorshed, Shahadat Hossain, Monir Hossain Kiron, Ibrahim Khalil, Kazi Mohammad Ismail, Tawfiq Alam Khan Piyal, Sadequl Islam Chowdhury Sagar, and Zakir Hossain — were tried in absentia.
   The ten convicts will be hanged until death upon confirmation of the verdict by the High Court, the judge said and adding that they can appeal against the verdict within 30 days from the pronouncement of the judgement.
   Five of the six convicts — Nazmul Hasan alias Benga Babu, Mohammad Ayub, Sheikh Russell alias Boltu, Rubel Hossain Howlader, and Shawkat Hossain — were produced before the court. But Kamal Hossain was absconding since very beginning of the trial.
   The judge in his judgement said that the condemned convicts had shot dead Newton and the other convicts stood guard while Ismail, driver of the victim, helped the criminals to commit the crime.
   According to the prosecution, the assailants shot dead Newton, also vice-president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, just after he had come out of a saloon at Orchid Plaza on Mirpur Road on May 10, 2002.
   Victim’s mother Rabeya Begum filed a murder case with the Dhanmondi police station the following day. The investigation officer, Munshi Ruhul Quddus, submitted charge sheet on February 28, 2004 against the 19 persons saying that Newton was killed over the rivalry with top terror Kala Jahangir.
   Though the case was stayed by the High court for five times, a total of 16 witnesses, out of 18, were examined during the trial.
   After the pronouncement of the verdict, the victim’s family members told newsmen that the government was not sincere to nab the killers, although Newton was a diehard BNP activist. Some of them became senseless soon after the pronouncement of the verdict.

Panic gripped staff, doctors and patients at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and the surrounding areas, following ‘leakage’ of oxygen from the oxygen reservoir of the hospital Wednesday evening.
   Locals said they heard a big sound and immediately mist-like substance covered the surrounding areas of the reservior at 6:30pm.
   The people around the reservoir started running for shelters while the patients of the nearby ward also passed moments in anxiety.
   Informed, technicians of the BOC Bangladesh Limited, the operator-cum-maintenance company of the reservoir, came to the scene and stopped emission of oxygen from it at about 8:00pm.
   Wali Bhuiyan, the managing director of BOC Bangladesh Limited, said it occurred due to excessive pressure of gas in the reservoir because of which the safety disc was broken.

Eighteen police superintendents were transferred on Wednesday in a major reshuffle in police administration.
   Home ministry sources said, SP of Gopalganj Kazi Fazlul Karim has been transferred to DMP as DC. Additional SP Masudur Rahman of Special Branch (SB) replaced Kazi. DC CMP Monir Hossain has been transferred to DC DMP, SP Cox’s Bazar to DC DMP, Additional DC of DMP Shahriar Rahman to SP Jhenaidah, Additional SP of Police Staff College Ekramul Habib to SP Madaripur.
   Commanding officer of RRF Sylhet Masud has been transferred to Commanding officer of APBN Bogra, SP of Police Staff College Abul Kashem to AIG Highway, SP Laxmipur Humayun Kabir has been transferred to AIG Telecom, Additional DIG of Tangail PTC Nazibur Rahman to Commandant of SB Training School, Dhaka.
   DC DB Shahidul Islam, Additional Commissioner CMP Jasimuddin and Additional DIG Rajshahi Range Manjur Quader have been posted as Joint Commissioners of DMP.
   AIG Police Headquarter Benzir Ahmed has been transferred to Commandant of PTC Tangail, SP Madaripur Abdul Malek to DC DMP and Additional DIG of SB training School Mainul has been transferred to Additional Commissioner CMP.