Rajshahi University teachers with progressive and secular minds have been passing days in fear of attack since the killing of a colleague, with a few already shifting their living places.
“We do not know who is targeted next and if a teacher like Professor AKM Shafiul Islam Lilon can be killed, then who knows who is the next target,” Md Nazmul Haque, assistant professor of sociology, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Nazmul, who is not only a close colleague of Prof Shafiul but also a direct student of him, used to live with his wife and only son just beside the building where Shafiul lived. In fact, he rented the house with the help of Prof Shafiul.
A group of killers attacked Shafiul just in front of Nazmul’s house last Saturday around 2:30pm. Nazmul, however, refused to share anything else regarding the murder. He only said: “Please, brother, do not ask me anything right now as I am very much scared.”
This correspondent met Nazmul in front of his house yesterday when he was busy shifting to a university teachers’ quarter. He had written to the vice-chancellor for a residence, saying his life was under threat where he was living and needed a secure place.
This correspondent accidentally stepped over the lawn where Shafiul was attacked and where there still was blood. Nazmul shouted, asking not to go over there as “this is the blood of my teacher.”
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Mashiur Rahman, an associate professor at journalism department, also expressed similar fear. “If the authorities concerned do not take any significant step to ensure punishment to the killers, our existence will be at risk,” he said.
Earlier, two more teachers had died but the trials were yet end. “If this situation continues, the killers will only be encouraged to repeat such acts.”
After three days of Shafiul’s killing law enforcers were yet to arrest any major suspect. The post mortem examination report handed over to the police says Shafiul had died from excessive blood loss.
Prof Dr Zubaedur Rahman, forensics head at Rajshahi Medical College, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the killers had hit Shafiul’s head with something heavy and the head bore seven injury marks. No poison or other things were found on the body, he added.
Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Motihar police station, said they were investigating the murder, considering it a very sensitive one, and hoped to unearth clues shortly.
Meanwhile, no classes and exams were held at Rajshahi University yesterday like the previous two days. Teachers, students and staffs formed a human chain in front of the sociology department. They later silently marched for around an hour, parading the roads of the campus. Addressing a rally, speakers demanded immediate arrest of the killers of Shafiul and punishment.
A tense situation was prevailing on the campus centring the death of Prof Shafiul. The tea stalls on the campus, which are usually crowded with students and even teachers until midnight, were found empty just after sunset.
Additional police forces were deployed at different points of the campus.
