Professor Saiful Islam, the incumbent vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), is unfit to discharge his duties, the university's teachers association has said.
“When a vice chancellor fails to realise his weakness and errors, even after the killing of Abrar, and the subsequent reactions from people of the country including students, teachers, and alumni, it is utterly disappointing for Buet,” they said issuing a statement on Thursday.
The Teachers' Association of Buet issued the statement following an interview of the vice chancellor professor Saiful Islam, published in Dhaka Tribune on October 23, where the VC blamed teachers, and the teachers' association for the current situation in the university.
In the interview, the VC blamed teachers [leaders of Buet Teachers’ Association] for patronizing students when he was asked to respond on how and why did Chhatra League enjoy so much power that they kept choosing the person for the DSW director post.
The association, by a statement signed by its president professor Dr AKM Masud, and general secretary professor Dr Md. Mostafa Ali, said the remarks by the VC is a falsehood, and is extremely defamatory for the teachers. The teachers got distressed, and shocked because of the falsehood, it said.
“The executive committee condemned the irresponsible statement, and falsehood, and demands immediate withdrawal of the remarks,” it reads.
When the Buet Teachers Association is trying to recover from the ongoing crisis situation, issuance of such false and instigating statement from the VC is a conspiracy to create a face-to-face situation between the teachers, the government, and students, the executive committee said.
The VC, in conversation with Dhaka Tribune, earlier claimed that two students, a former president and general secretary of Chhatra League’s Buet unit were punished for indiscipline.
However, the Teachers Association binned the claim, terming it as a gross falsehood.
The two were punished during the tenure of former VC late professor Khaleda Akram, they said.
The falsehood by the VC Saiful Islam, yet again proves he is unfit to discharge his duties, concludes the association.
The same association, earlier on October 10, called upon the government to force VC Saiful Islam to resign if he would not resign willingly, because of his negligent attitude towards violence on students, and his failure to take any action to ensure students' safety in Buet that encouraged those who killed Abrar.
"All these prove that the VC has lost his ethical values," they said in a statement on the day.
Abrar Fahad, a second year student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of Buet, was beaten to death inside the university’s Sher-e-Bangla Hall in the early hours of October 7.
Some Chhatra League leaders of the organization's Buet chapter have been accused of beating him to death for his alleged involvement with Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Abrar's father filed a murder case against 19 people at Chawkbazar police station on the day of the murder.
Police have already detained 20 people in connection with the case, and several of them were remanded. Some of them gave confessional statements on their involvement with the murder.
Massive protests broke out following Abrar's murder, with students from Buet, and other universities holding demonstrations, demanding justice for Abrar, and capital punishment for the killers.
