DUCSU VP demands Home Adviser’s resign
Staff Reporter :
Leaders of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) on Monday issued a 48-hour ultimatum, placing three key demands over the attack on Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of the Inqilab Manch and a potential independent candidate for the Dhaka-8 constituency.
They warned that failure to meet the demands and to show visible improvement in the law and order situation would force the resignation of the advisers for home affairs, law, and foreign affairs.
The ultimatum was announced on Monday afternoon following a meeting at the Secretariat between Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and a student delegation led by Ducsu Vice-President Abu Sadiq Kayem.
As Kayem addressed journalists after the meeting, the home affairs adviser stood beside him and appeared visibly uncomfortable.
Speaking to reporters at the ministry, Kayem said that if the three-point demand was not met immediately and if no visible change in law and order was seen within the stipulated time, the home affairs adviser, the law adviser, and the foreign affairs adviser must resign.
Reading out the demands, Kayem said the first requirement was the immediate arrest of all terrorists directly involved in the shooting of Osman Hadi, including the attackers, planners, and accomplices.
He also demanded that all relevant state organs, including intelligence agencies, be brought under prompt accountability, and that anyone found negligent be prosecuted.
At the same time, he called for a complete social boycott of what he described as “cultural fascists” who supported the attack and created an environment that made Hadi and the July revolutionaries targets for killing, insisting that these measures be made visibly effective without delay.
In the second demand, Kayem said that within the next 48 hours, area-based combing operations must begin against the banned Awami League and its affiliated organisations.
He demanded the arrest of terrorists at all levels of the banned organisation and the recovery of all illegal firearms, warning that further government negligence on this issue would not be tolerated.
The final demand called for steps against what DUCSU leaders described as Indian hegemony. As a first and essential measure, they demanded that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now convicted, be brought back to the country and that verdicts delivered against her for crimes against humanity be enforced.
They also called for a reassessment of diplomatic relations with India in protest against providing shelter to alleged perpetrators of genocide, stating that diplomatic relations could not be normalised until the accused were repatriated.
DUCSU leaders reiterated that if the demands were not fulfilled within 48 hours, the advisers for home affairs, law, and foreign affairs would have to step down.
Earlier in the day, a protest march led by DUCSU attempted to besiege the office of the home affairs adviser.
The march, which started from the DUCSU building, broke through police barricades at Doel Chattar and the High Court intersection. It was temporarily halted, after which a delegation of 10 Ducsu leaders broke away from the main body of protesters and proceeded towards the ministry from the High Court intersection at around 1:45pm to submit the ultimatum.
Before entering the ministry, Kayem told journalists that more than 72 hours had passed since the attack on Sharif Osman Hadi, yet the interim government had failed to arrest the assailants.
He questioned how much more time the authorities needed to make the arrests and said the delegation had come to set a clear deadline for action.
The delegation included Abu Sadiq Kayem, Assistant General Secretary Mohiuddin Khan, Social Welfare Secretary AB Zubair, International Affairs Secretary Jashimuddin Khan, Career Development Secretary Md Mazharul Islam, Literature and Culture Affairs Secretary Musaddiq Ali Ibne Mohammad, Health and Environment Secretary MM Al Minhaz, and members Tazinur Rahman and Meftahul Hossain Al Maruf.