Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), yesterday announced to enforce a student strike for indefinite period at the Chittagong University (CU) campus from Sunday to press home its 11-point demand.
Confirming the strike, Saifuddin Salam Mithu, general secretary of JCD CU unit told the Dhaka Tribune: “JCD will enforce the non-stop student strike at the campus from next Sunday demanding the authority to ensure co-existence of all students’ organisations at the campus and to end the repression of the JCD men and common students by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL)”.
“The programme will continue until the demands are met”, said Mithu.
Contacted, CU Proctor Siraj Ud Dowla said: “No one informed the university authorities about the demands or the strike”.
“It is unacceptable that the JCD men has called the strike through the media,” said proctor Siraj adding that he urged the students to attend the academic activities without any fear.
The other demands put forwarded by JCD are to lift the political ban from the campus, to resume the CU-bound shuttle train service from Chittagong railway station, to take action against alleged sexual harassment of female students by BCL men, to start bus service for the students, to ban politics around the shuttle train, to ensure that real students reside in the halls, build new halls to resolve the accommodation problem, curb nepotism and partisan appointment of BCL men and settle the appointment irregularities by BCL men at CU.
On January 21 and February 3, JCD enforced student strike twice at CU as part of its central programme.
