Demonstrators of the countrywide quota reform movement have urged the government to stop the attacks on them and to immediately release their detained leaders.
During a press conference in Dhaka on Saturday, the leaders of the movement demanded that the government take responsibility for medical treatment of the students who were injured in recent attacks.
They said the security of students demonstrating on campuses must be ensured.
The demands were placed by the Bangladesh General Students’ Rights Protection Council in the presence of family members of its Joint Convener, Md Rashed Khan, who was detained by law enforcement and placed on a five-day police remand.
Briefing the media at Crime Reporters' Association of Bangladesh (CRAB), another Joint Convener of the council, Ataullah, said: “On behalf of the general students, with due respect, we are urging the government to intervene and stop the ongoing attacks and torture we are facing.”
“We want an end to the false cases which are being filed against the leaders of the movement.”
He said: “We demand the unconditional release of detained students and the withdrawal of all false cases filed against them.”
Ataullah said students involved in the movement are unable to stay in their dormitories due to the threats and torture by Chhatra League goons.
The protesting leaders are being forced to flee from their places in fear of detention, he added.
The joint convener said: “Joint secretaries Rashed and Mahfuz Khan were taken from Mirpur on Sunday.”
“Rashed was later shown as arrested for a case filed intentionally under section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act,” Ataullah said, adding that they have no information about Mahfuz.
He said: “Reform activists who had come under attack by the Chhatra League , were driven out of hospitals even as they were undergoing treatment.”
“When we asked the hospital authorities about it, they told us the orders came from higher authorities,” he said during the press conference.
He further said the female activists of the movement had also been physically assaulted during the Chhatra League attacks.
In January, students and job seekers across Bangladesh began their protest demanding an overhaul of the quota system that reserved 56% of jobs in the public sector for selected groups.
Amid the protests, on April 11, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced scrapping the quota system entirely.
