Dhaka University Chhatra Dal staged a torch rally Wednesday night, protesting the deteriorating law and order situation and demanding justice for the murder of BNP leader Abdur Rahim Sikder in Cox’s Bazar’s Bharuakhali.
The rally began at the base of the Raju Sculpture and marched through various campus roads before concluding with a brief gathering near the TSC cafeteria.
Protesters chanted slogans including “Fight, fight, we must fight to survive,” “No place for fascism in Bangladesh,” “Lawlessness proves the Interim Government has no policy".
Chhatra Dal DU President Ganesh Chandra Roy addressed the rally, saying: “Just two days ago, a local Jamaat leader brutally murdered our joint general secretary Rahim Sikder. We demand the highest justice.”
He criticized the government’s failure to prevent violence, claiming that 1,245 killings had occurred in the past year.
“Instead of reforming campuses, they’ve become breeding grounds for terror groups threatening student safety,” he said.
Ganesh also condemned certain NGO workers for allegedly misleading pro-democracy parties. “They may have academic knowledge, but they lack understanding of how to implement political and economic policies on the ground,” he said.
DU Chhatra Dal General Secretary Nahiduzzaman Shipon called July 16 a historic day, marking the martyrdom of Abu Sayed in Rangpur and Wasim Akram in Chattogram last year.
“That movement led to the fall of the dictatorship. Yet today, we stand here protesting the very government born from that uprising,” he [Shipon] said.
He also accused a group of extortionists of operating under religious disguise, saying, “Those looting Islami Bank and conspiring against Chhatra Dal will meet their fate in Pindi.”