Leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student affiliate of the Awami League, have suspended their ongoing demonstration at Rajshahi University till Wednesday noon.
The announcement was made on Tuesday following a two-and-a-half-hour long meeting with the university administration.
The demonstrators said they would sit with Vice-Chancellor (VC) M Abdus Sobhan on Wednesday to resolve the issue. Until then, the movement would be suspended.
Earlier, the leaders and activists of the student organisation continued their demonstrations in the morning, taking up position in front of the two administrative buildings.
At 12pm, Pro VCs Prof Anand Kumar Saha and Prof Chowdhury Zakaria, Treasurer Prof AKM Mostafizur Rahman, Registrar Prof Abdus Salam, Proctor Prof Lutfar Rahman entered the administrative building.
Later, a six-member delegation of the protesters held a meeting with the officials of the university administration at the administrative building.
Following the meeting, the protesters said the talks were not fruitful. However, they had suspended the demonstration for 24 hours due to the death of a university teacher.
Confusion over demonstration
The university administration said that the protesters had been demonstrating for jobs.
However, the protesters stated they were not demonstrating for jobs. They were protesting to restore the dignity of the university as it was not being run according to the University Ordinance Act of 1973.
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Elias Hossain, one of the protesters who took part in the meeting, said to the media: “We are not protesting for jobs. We are former general students of the university. We want the 1973 Ordinance to be upheld. If the VC can run the university as per the act then he can stay. Otherwise he must go.”
On the other hand, Registrar Prof Abdus Salam said: “They are telling us that they were university students and they applied to the university. But why aren’t they getting jobs?”
“They may be job seekers. But the directive of the Ministry of Education is the directive of the government. We have to follow it. As long as this is not resolved, the recruitment process at the university will remain stopped,” Prof Abdus Salam added.
The Education Ministry, in a letter on December 10, requested the university vice chancellor to suspend all kinds of recruitment-related activities.
A disabled person was appointed to the office of the Registrar on the recommendation of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Monday afternoon.
Following the incident, Chhatra League leaders and activists, who are aspiring for jobs, started the demonstration by locking the gates of the VC’s residence and administrative building on Monday night.