Ruling Awami League and its student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League yesterday made contradictory statements about the clash between two Chhatra League factions of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet.
Awami League Advisory Council member and former railways minister Suranjit Sengupta strongly criticised the SUST clash and said such activities of Chhatra League had contaminated its historic tradition and put the government in an embarrassing position repeatedly.
“We should save Chhatra League. A handful of its activists are hampering its glorious history. The achievements of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government are not being appreciated properly because of them,” Suranjit said during a meeting organised by Bangabandhu Academy at the Liberation War Museum in the capital’s Segunbagicha area, chaired by another ruling party leader Hazi Selim MP.
“We cannot let it happen. We should bring back the glory that the organisation had when Bangabandhu founded it,” the veteran Awami League leader said.
The clash was between two factions of the student organisation over establishing supremacy on the SUST campus on Thursday. It was a gunfight which left a private university student dead and nine people injured. Police arrested 17 Chhatra League activists alleged to be connected with the incident.
Suranjit also commented on the statements made by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid – both of whom are from Sylhet – on the incident.
Addressing Muhith’s reply to critics, Suranjit said: “The finance minister is an MP from Sylhet, so I request him to please visit the spot (SUST) and say ‘Rubbish,’ like he says when expressing his displeasure.”
Referring to Nahid’s reaction when a Chhatra League member set fire to MC College hostel in 2012, Suranjit said: “I request you to go to the university campus and shed some tears, at least.”
But Chhatra League Central Committee President Badiuzzaman Shohag denied the organisation’s involvement in the clash.
Addressing a press conference at Dhaka University yesterday, Shohag said: “No Chhatra League member was involved in the clash, as the prime accused [Uttam Kumar Das] had been expelled from the party a year ago for assaulting party leader Shamsuzzaman Sumon. Chhatra League will not take the responsibility of his misdeed.
“Moreover, the student killed in the clash was an outsider. So, how can Chhatra League be involved in it?” he asked, adding: “We express deep shock over the death of the student.”
He also raised questions on the role of police as “the law enforcers failed to arrest the accused in spite of the cases that had been filed against him earlier.”
Claiming that Chhatra League was firm in upholding its reputation, he said: “If we find any of our members involved, we will take punitive action against that person.”
What police say
Akhtar Hossain, officer-in-charge of Jalalabad police station, said following the clash, police and detectives conducted separate drives in different areas of Sylhet city and arrested 17 Chhatra League men on the night of the incident.
Two of the arrested were identified as Anik and Khokon, while the identities of the rest had yet to be determined when this report was filed. One revolver and 19 sharp weapons were recovered from Anik’s possession during his arrest.
Earlier, police filed a case against 250 Chhatra League activists in connection with the violence.
The victim, Sumon Das, 22, was an activist of Chhatra League in a private university, sources at police said.
Following the incident, the SUST authorities suspended all operations of the university for an indefinite period, and a three-member probe committee headed by university professor Dr Ilias Uddin was formed to investigate the incident.
