NN Online:
Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatradal (JCD) on Wednesday dismissed the allegation of an attack on general students at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) as “completely false” and called for the punishment of those responsible for the attack.
Chatradal Central Senior Vice-President Abu Afsan Md Yahya came up with the demand at a press conference held at the Khulna Press Club on Wednesday afternoon.
He further said the central Chatradal formed a three-member committee to look into the matter.
Chatradal leaders alleged that when some students, who were keen to join the organisation, were walking by during an anti-discrimination student movement procession on the KUET campus on Tuesday, they stopped the students and attacked.
They said when a student who was attacked took shelter in a nearby shop and the anti-discrimination student movement activists attacked the shop owner.
Following this, some local people known to the shop owner entered KUET and carried out a counterattack.
Blames Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, Shibir for KUET attack
Chatradal has claimed the attack at KUET was allegedly orchestrated by members of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and Islami Chhatra Shibir, Chatradal.
Speaking at the event, held at Dhaka University’s Teacher-Student Center (TSC), Chatradal General Secretary Nasir Uddin said, “Every major fire in Bangladesh starts with a small short circuit. On Monday, Anti-Discrimination Student Movement’s unruly mob initiated such an act. The attack was led by Convener Omar Faruq and monitored from the centre by Hasnat Abdullah,” he said.
Nasir further claimed that Chhatra Shibir members, fearing exposure after recent mass uprisings, carried out the attack on Chatradal members. According to him, when injured students sought refuge in local shops, the attackers turned on the shopkeepers as well, triggering a violent clash with residents.
Chatradal leaders said the violence began during a rally organised under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. They accused KUET Committee Convener Omar Faruq of instigating the rally, which they claim unexpectedly turned into an assault on Chatradal supporters.
Rakibul Islam, the president of Chatradal, said, “Based on victims’ testimonies, media reports, images, and videos, we found that the first attack came from that rally.” He reiterated that as injured students tried to escape, they were assaulted again, leading to retaliation from local residents. This escalated into a full-blown clash at the KUET gate, lasting for about an hour.
Chatradal announced that a three-member investigation committee had been dispatched to KUET to probe the incident. While they acknowledged that conclusions should not be drawn before an official administrative report is released, their written statement directly accused Chhatra Shibir, Hasnat Abdullah, and KUET Convener Omar Faruq of orchestrating the attack.
They also clarified that Chatradal does not have an active committee at KUET and that the three students who were attacked were regular students. Therefore, they argued, blaming Chatradal for the violence was a deliberate attempt to tarnish their image.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, at least 50 students were injured in a series of clashes between the general students and the JCD fellows over banning student politics on the campus.
At one stage of the clashes, outsiders, said to be BNP men, allegedly joined the JCD members, and attacked the students.
Meanwhile, KUET authorities on Wednesday suspended academic activities until February 28 amid growing tensions between two groups of students over the demand for banning student politics on its campus.
The authorities also decided to expel the students involved in Tuesday’s attack, file cases against outsiders, bear the medical expenses of the injured and ensure the safety of students.
